Avatar Day episodes Continuation
by myheartsafeather
Summary: the story continues from book Earth, the episode called Avatar Day. My take on how the story spirals from then on. There will be late Z x K, and you must be patient with this action adventure story.: Hope you like it
1. Chapter 1

_Don't waste your time on me_

_You're already the voice inside my head_

_I miss you_

I miss you, Blink 182 

Zuko's eyes spilled over with silent tears as he galloped away from the only source of comfort he had known in the later parts of his life, Iroh. Mingled emotions of betrayal and guilt swarmed inside him, having battles with his conscience and his heart. Iroh's voice still resounded in his head,

In the darkest times hope is what we give to ourselves… that is the meaning of inner strength 

**I didn't have a choice! It's me or I don't get to go back!**

_Iroh stuck with you for ages… he didn't _have _to go with you._

**I didn't **make **him go with me, did I?**

He treated you like you were his son even though you don't deserve it 

**I didn't do anything!**

Zuko shook his head slightly as he clenched his fist tightly on the reins of the horse they had named Race.

**I've made my decision I left and I can't go back now.**

Katara lingered on the back of Appa, staring at the night sky. It had been a few days already since they had left the "crazy town" where Aang had nearly been boiled in steaming hot oil. This was the time of the night she loved most, when the moon came out and she could stare at the beautiful stars. _It's peaceful, _she reflected. _Not like the Fire Nation. _

Near her, Sokka and Aang were debating heatedly on the topic of war strategies. A map lay between them with lots of ink on it marking out the places they had already been to. Sokka had been lobbying that they should go to the nearest Earth Kingdom where Aang could learn earth bending and Aang kept insisting that they should stopover at a market to replenish their supplies.

Sokka threw his hands up in the air " Aang I've told you a millionth time that we **don't **need any more food! Or bison whistles for that matter!"

"I thought you liked eating?" Aang said, employing the use of his famous puppy-dog look.

"Don't try that on me, Aang, it doesn't work." Sokka said indignantly.

"Come on, we have to stop at a market or something. I'm bored."

"We'll ask Katara what she thinks. I bet she'll go with me."

"KATARA!" two loud voices resonated in the air as Katara looked around confused.

"Tell Aang we don't need new supplies!"

"Tell Sokka we have to stop and look around!"

Katara smirked. " I think Aang's right, Sokka. We _do _need change of environment."

The real reason for her choosing Aang's opinion was mainly because she did it to tease her older, _so _protective brother. _Anyway, I'd like to stop at a market or somewhere. I need to bathe._.

"Whew! What a nice place!" Aang exclaimed as Appa landed on a grassy plain. They walked towards a huge, bustling market. Katara paused to look at some finery while Aang was ferociously haggling with a old woman with a cigar in her mouth, a fiery old lady who took to loudly saying, " YOU DON'T KNOW EXACTLY HOW TO HAGGLE, EH, DO YOU?"

effectively humiliating Aang and making him argue the more so vociferously.

Meanwhile, Sokka's interest had been piqued at an elderly old man squatting on the floor, holding out a bowl in front of him. Dressed simply, he still had a faint aura of power around him. People passing largely ignored him or stepped on his mat. Normally, Sokka was not one to give away their hard-earned money but he could not help it, he turned up his pockets and dropped a coin into the old man's cup. And he reeled back in absolute shock at the face he saw that turned up at him in gladness.

Zuko dumped his belongings on the ground and tied Race to a tree. He was now faced with an imminent problem- how, how, HOW was he going to get food? The stuff he had stolen were already eaten up by Iroh. Immediately without thinking he picked up his Blue Spirit mask, and placed it over his face. Ignoring the constant pang in his heart, he grabbed his swords and set off, shoving his belongings under a bush.

Zuko flitted through the trees, only stopping until he landed on the roof of a house directly in the middle of a row of houses. Slipping quietly beneath the window, he gracefully landed on a cabinet, his eyes scouring the environment for food that he could steal. Quickly, he grabbed some pie that was in the larder and quickly moved to take some hard biscuits when he heard a noise. Most people would have heard nothing, but Zuko's ears had pricked up and his hand stilled as he listened intently. _There it comes again, _he thought. The light sound of footsteps.

Just as suddenly, the door of the house was thrown open and Zuko immediately ducked behind a cabinet as a band of Fire Nation soldiers stormed in. A man stood at the head of the troop, a cold man with a harsh face, holding up a torch.

The whole family appeared in front of the Fire Nation soldiers, and Zuko got a good look at all of them. A young teenager girl, her mother, and brother, dressed simply in Earth Kingdom clothes. The mother had a frightened, almost desperate look on her face but her children had a look of weary resignation. The scene tore Zuko's heart.

" Woman, you have not paid us your rent!" a harsh, guttural voice came out from the commander. Instinctively Zuko tensed, poised, at the dark in the kitchen.

" We cannot afford the hefty prices! Please give us more time!" the woman fell to her knees and begged hopelessly.

" More time? You do know what was the bargain we agreed for, didn't we?" this time it was a mocking voice filled with sarcasm that rang through the air.

"No! Don't take my daughter! Please more time……" her voice trailed off, broken by sobs.

"Too bad" the commander smirked. He grabbed the teenager's arm, dragging her off roughly. Zuko knew what they would do to her. In times of war, men became desperate. They would trade money for women, then dump them somewhere, elsewhere, shamed.

The commander turned from the family and the Blue Spirit attacked.


	2. Surprise!

_Love? Hate?_

_? Am I a mixture of these, boiled into one piece and presented to the world? _

---

"You're the one with the crazy prince!" Sokka exclaimed loudly, stumbling back a few steps in shock.

"Please, don't tell anyone!" Iroh said quickly.

"Aang, Katara, come here, you guys have got to see this."

Aang's eyes narrowed as he studied the old general. Katara gasped but said nothing.

"Where's Zuko?" Aang asked diplomatically.

"Yeah, where's the crazy prince?" Sokka yelped out.

"Ssh!" Iroh said, looking around. The people nearby were looking at them curiously. Iroh stood up, and said softly, " -we decided to go separate ways."

"Why?" Sokka asked sharply.

"That doesn't matter. Could I travel with you?" Iroh asked. Seeing the looks on their faces, he quickly added "I will not harm you. Or do any firebending."

Seeing their distrustful faces, Iroh quickly added, "And I don't mind being chained up. I am an old man. Please."

"And the question is- why?" Sokka asked, sticking his face close to Iroh's.

"No reason." Iroh mumbled.

"But why should we-"

"Sure you can travel with us. Why not?"

"WHAT? WHY?"

"Aang, are you sure this is a good idea?" Katara broke in.

"Yes. He can go with us. Now, who wants to go look at the pots over there? They look nice!" Aang diverted the topic immediately. Iroh stood up, and said, "You can chain me now, if you wish."

Sokka gave Iroh a hugely distrustful glare and Iroh smiled at Sokka innocently. Sokka stalked over to Appa, yanked the chains from the seat and roughly shoved Iroh's hand into it.

"Ah," Iroh drawled, "You might want to be a little less harsh with the chains, you know!"

"Oh, SHUT UP!"

---

Zuko tossed his mask from his face angrily as he rested in the dark, dense forest. He remembered every moment of what he did back there, in the house.

_----_

The Blue Spirit rushed out, his black silhouette outlined as shadows against the wall and in one agile sweep brought up his broadswords against him.

The woman, the mother, screamed

Lieutenant Farce turned. His mouth opened, deep in shock at the two Dao swords coming relentlessly at him, and at the fearsome mask staring at him from the depths of the light.

Zuko crossed his swords and moved them so deftly, gracefully, not harming anyone, but slowly forcing the Fire Nation soldiers to retreat. A masterful show of swordplay was shown and the soldiers backed away slowly. Zuko neared the lieutenant and he immediately let go of the girl. Zuko grabbed the girl, carried her, carried her towards her mother. He let go of the girl in front of her mother, and they clutched each other, with their brother, crying.

The Blue Spirit stood in front of the family with his swords crossed. The soldiers of the Fire Nation knew that they could not attack. Not with the Blue Spirit around

---

He didn't get it: Why did he help the Earth people? Did he do it recklessly? Spur of the moment? **_Was he weak?_**

Zuko didn't know the answers to these questions and he was majorly annoyed. _In any case, that won't happen again, _he thought

_My honour is what I must regain._

--

Zuko got up at 6 am, sharp, the next morning. Months of being in a ship had gotten him used to the routine. Up at 6, morning training till 7, eat at 8, assign duties after that and straight, meeting room to strategize.

He rather missed those days, really.

Picking up his swords, he checked through his bag and the few possessions he held. His hand lingered on the Blue Spirit mask. Should he?

Forget it. 

"What's that sound?" Fayer turned and to Thalia and Mikael. The four of them. Otherwise known as the Literary Club, were a mix of Fire, Water, and Earth nation. Fayer, an young, energetic and fierce Fire Nation citizen, had run away from his home when Fire Nation began their war. He loved to write, and had used his skills to pen drastic criticisms of the war.

Thalia was from the water tribe. She was with Mikael, an earthbender in a Fire Nation prison when Fayer staged a successful escape for her whole cohort, making it one of the biggest escapes in the POWs jail. A huge embarrassment to the Fire Nation.

The three of them contributed to a newsletter made from dry scraps of paper they could find and wrote pieces of work which they smuggled into newsboys pockets and newspaper shops to get their voices heard. Obviously their work was not very pleasing to Lord Ozai. They led a life of adventure, traveling throughout the world to escape from the Fire Nation and just trying to get by and write.

Fayer once again said, " Listen! I thought I heard an animal cry out."

"Yeah right. We're the only ones in this forest , come on!" Thalia rebutted.

Fayer stopped, planting his feet firmly on the ground, his eyes searching the canopy of the forest for something he had seen a few minutes ago.

" It was a person!" Fayer exclaimed. Tossing his stuff on the ground, he took off, leaving Thalia and Mikael to call after him in his wake. He rushed through the forest, his curiosity getting the better of him as he followed the quick and fast disappearing black shape through the trees.

"Fayer! Are you crazy or what? That's a bird probably you idiot!"

"FAYER!" came the panting voices of his two friends as they trampled around in the undergrowth.

Fayer made one last, desperate grasp at the flying through the trees. Miraculously enough, his hand caught onto the person's foot and he came crashing down. He struggled to get up, not letting go of the person's hand, he got his first good look at the man.

"Prince Zuko?" he spluttered out in shock

---------------------------------

"So what's your name?" Aang asked the old man now sitting beside him surrounding the fire that was crackling heartily in the dark. The four of them sat on an open grassy field, enjoying the warmth the fire gave them in the dark.

"My name is Iroh."

Katara gasped. "**General **Iroh!"

Iroh smiled. "Retired."

Sokka snorted. "So what if you were once a general? You didn't even win the battle in the west!"

Iroh's eyes darkened. "Indeed."

"And now you're with us, chained up! How pathet-"

"Shut up, Sokka." Katara interrupted with a glare.

"No, girl, it's all right", Iroh cut in with a smile. " I did fail in my quest to bring the Earth Kingdom down. That was a long, long time ago."

"You can call me Katara."

"You can call me Aang", the Avatar added.

"Enough of this naming business, I am Sokka. Now we should all get some rest, we'll be traveling by foot tomorrow. Appa's got to have some rest."

"All right, _Mother._" Katara added knowingly.

"Don't call me that!"

The fire was exterminated with a gust of wind from a sweep of Aang's hand and Sokka, Aang, and Katara turned to bed. Only Iroh sat up, in the dark, and if one leaned close enough, you could just make out the words he was mumbling in his meditation.

"_Where are you, Zuko? I hope you're ok…."_


	3. Learning Firebending and a Meeting

_Sometimes all you can ask of a person is to trust and hope_

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Fayer moved forward to greet Prince Zuko but he moved back hastily, not sure of what to do.

"Oh, sorry!" Fayer slapped his head. He bowed, waist-down, quickly and offered a hand for Prince Zuko to shake.

Zuko stared at Fayer hesitantly and suspiciously but reached out and shook Fayer's hand. He let go immediately, still confused. _This guy is from the Fire Nation, he's got yellow eyes. Why is he shaking my hand and bowing down to me?_

Then, Thalia and Mikael arrived. Thalia annoyed, pushed her hair that had flew in front of her face and did a double take at the two men in front of her. Mikael's mouth had dropped open and he was speechless.

"No way!" Mikael spluttered, finding his voice at last.

Thalia, who was more used to dealing with situations like these, quickly walked forward, and bowed. "Greetings, Prince Zuko. Would you like to come with us and eat?"

The reason why Thalia, Mikael and Fayer knew Zuko was because of Fayer. When they had first met, Thalia and Mikael had refused to trust Fayer, citing that _"he's the Fire Nation scum!"_ However Fayer had used the example of Prince Zuko, who had stood up for the entire regiment in the army, that not all Fire Nation were killers. Fayer himself was present at the Agni Kai that day, and he was shocked and sickened at Ozai's cruelty.

Thalia stepped back, regarding the Prince carefully. Opening her mouth, completely accidentally, blurted out

"I think you did a very honourable thing in defending the regiment, Prince Zuko."

The moment she had said it, she regretted it immediately. _Me and my big mouth!_ She cursed inwardly. Fayer shot her a warning look and Mikael did not help at all by stepping on Thalia's feet. Zuko's eyes darkened, and he opened his mouth as if to speak. Thalia cut him off, babbling nervously

"I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have said that."

Zuko did not say anything, and a mask of hidden emotion once resettled on his face.

"Well, Prince Zuko, would you like to have something to eat?" Fayer asked, trying to break the awkward silence.

"How do I know I can trust you?"

Mikael smiled. "Well, Fayer just spent all of his energy just to see who was the person in the trees, me and Thalia are absolutely spent just by following you, and come on, don't tell me we rushed here all for nothing!"

Zuko let a small smirk cross his face for the barest second and he nodded. _I am hungry, they look like they are honest_, he told himself mentally as he followed the three of them through the forest, _anyway if they attack I'll be ready. _

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Iroh shuffled along with the rest. It had been a few days of traveling by foot and it was long and tiring. He admitted, it was in a spur of the moment that he had asked to go with the Avatar and his friends, but how else was he going to see Zuko again? Not for the first time since they parted, he started to regret letting Zuko out of his sight. _How's he going to find food? And survive with that awful temper?_

Aang, Katara and Sokka were traveling by foot across the Earth Kingdom, in search of an Earth Master to teach Aang Earth bending. Sokka had been complaining the whole way through, and Katara was playing with Momo. Aang, however, was not his usual chirpy self. He was unusually subdued today, and Iroh was first to point it out.

"Aang, why are you so quiet today?"

Aang looked up and saw the old firebender's face. Iroh was concerned and Aang trusted Iroh, he didn't think that Iroh was a killer. It was an instinct in him that told him so, and personally Aang thought he was going a bit crazy.

"I have to master Earth bending and we haven't even reached anywhere yet! All we've seen so far are plains, plains, and more plains. How am I going to save the world from Sozen's comet before end of the month?" Aang said agitatedly, only realizing a moment later that he had revealed the secret about Sozen's comet.

To his surprise, Iroh did not look surprised at the information that a comet was coming to end the war. _He probably already knew,_ Aang realized, _after all he is Ozai's brother. _

Iroh smiled. "Well, I can teach you some firebending only if you remove my chains," he said cheerfully.

Aang looked at him nervously and appraised him. Sure, Iroh hadn't tried anything on them the past few days, but who was to say he wouldn't? After all, he was from the Fire nation, and he did try to hunt him down with Zuko.

Iroh, as if reading his worries, smiled and said, "Don't worry, I won't attack you. We're all on the same side now. "

Aang was even more confused at this. _We're all on the same side now? _Nevertheless, he removed Iroh's chains, and though Sokka protested, at Aang's logic that Iroh hadn't attacked them, Sokka shut up.

Katara was nervous. She was scared. Really scared that Aang might burn her again when he was doing firebending. Fire scared her, right up from the day when her mother was burnt at the stake to that cold, silent fear that the Fire Nation was coming for them. She watched, nervously with Sokka, on Appa's back. They had retreated a good deal from Aang and Iroh, who were now sitting facing each other.

"Firebending involves using breath, "Iroh said, and from his hand a flame appeared and flickered. Closing his eyes, he said,

"Control the size of the flame with your breath. Meditation is a big part of firebending, and control is one of the most important aspects of firebending."

_He sounds so much like Jeong-Jeong, _Katara reflected in shock. A small flame had appeared in his hand. Closing his eyes and adopting the same stance as Iroh, he breathed in and out, trying to control the flame.

"Now get the fire to form an orb," Iroh said, making a orb of fire appear in front of him. Throughout, he was still breathing regularly, and it was an amazing sight, the orb was getting smaller everytime he inhaled an larger when he exhaled.

Aang had created a orb just like Iroh's and he grasped what Iroh taught him fast. This time, Aang was controlled, he too was afraid of what happened the last time he had tried to firebend.

After a while, Iroh smiled.

"You have traveled leaps and bounds today, Avatar. We will resume training tomorrow."

"What? No more?" Aang asked, disappointed. "We barely did much today!"

"Patience is a virtue, Aang," Iroh said, his eyes sparkling with humour.

"And, after all, we have plenty time, don't we?" Iroh said, his hand gesturing at the great expanse of ground they still had to cover.

Sokka snorted and Katara smiled inwardly as Aang disappointedly trudged back to Appa and they continued their travels.

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**End of chapter everyone, what do you think? Please review guys, last I checked I got 97 hits but only 3 bothered to review! Seriously say something! Speak up! Cos I'm here to listen , you know.**

**All right, I didn't end with a cliffie today but be sure to continue reading as there will be more to come. **

**Myheartsafeather**


	4. Unexpected, and the Bracelet

_My dignity is worth more than my life_

Thalia dumped food on everyone's plates; Zuko had significantly more than the rest, and Zuko knew it. He had heard Thalia and Mikael arguing in the trees,

"We have to give Zuko more food, he needs it a lot more than we do."

"We need food too, any less and we'll be crawling with hunger on the forest floor, Thalia!"

"I don't care. Go ask Fayer what he thinks, I'm still giving Zuko more."

It was a pretty obvious fact that Fayer, Thalia, and Mikael were struggling to get along, but Zuko said nothing and accepted his food. It comprised of mainly nuts, and some meat that Fayer was able to catch the other day. Zuko ate his food slowly, listening to conversation between Thalia and Mikael. He was able to sort of glean that Fayer, Thalia and Mikael were escaping from the Fire Nation, and they wrote novels and tried to get them circulated.

Novels that weren't very pleasing to the Fire Lord, it seemed.

Zuko, however, was curious about Fayer. He was from the Fire Nation, Zuko could tell by his eyes and hair, but was he doing in the woods?

"What are you and the rest doing in the woods?" Zuko asked Fayer.

"Well, we write novels and newsletters, we try to get our voices heard in the Nations worldwide."

"Haven't the Fire Nation found you yet?"

Fayer smiled. "No, they are coming for me, I know. Last I checked, they put a huge bounty on my head and my face was plastered on all the walls."

"Oh. I see." Zuko said. Fayer and the rest had stopped calling Zuko 'Prince' already, they just weren't used to it. Zuko himself did not really notice it.

"I will be going now, thank you all for your help," Zuko said as he stood up.

Fayer looked up. "Why not come with us for a while, at least till you reach the next market?"

Zuko smiled at them, a rare smile, he was truly glad for their help, but he just couldn't go with them and infringe on their food and friendship.

But, the past few days _had _been lonely by himself, and, he didn't have to take anything from anyone.

After a few minutes of hesitation, Zuko nodded. "All right."

Iroh trudged along with Aang and Sokka while Katara rested on Appa's back as they traveled through forests, hills, cliffs, and as Iroh muttered under his breath, _more earth than I have ever seen in my life._

Iroh was once again chained up; Sokka insisted that if Iroh and Aang weren't doing firebending he would have to be chained up. Sokka did not really get along with Iroh, but Sokka did, to the surprise of his own self, kind of respect the old man for his cheerful optimism and never-say-die spirit.

Iroh's eyes narrowed, he had caught a glimpse of a black, charred ground ahead. _Fire Nation._

He glanced back at his fellow companions. Too late. They had seen the ground, and within the barest seconds had come to a conclusion: the Fire Nation must have attacked. Aang's eyes were fixed on the area they were coming to and steering Appa in that direction.

Iroh groaned inwardly. _All the time I spent building up their trust, it's going to be gone when they see that place, _he thought disappointedly.

Katara jumped off Appa's back and together they went to investigate the area. Aang's eyes were clouded in grief and Sokka was fuming. Katara was silent, but sadness was reflected in her eyes.

"You know, not all Fire Nation do these things," Iroh said slowly.

"Oh yeah? Well look at what the _goody-goody_ _Fire Nation has done to them!_" Sokka yelled at Iroh furiously.

Aang remained silent. Katara caught a glimpse of something shining beneath all that ash, and shouted out,

"Look Aang, it's two bracelets!"

The bracelets were pure gold, and reflecting the sunlight. After brushing away the ash that was covering it, Sokka held it up in the sunlight.

"Pure gold," he marveled.

Iroh frowned at the bracelet. The bracelet had a menacing aura around it; he strained to recall something from his mind. _Somewhere,_ _back in the Fire Nation, I think we made those things._

Seeing the frown on Iroh's face, Aang turned to Iroh.

"What's wrong, Iroh?"

Shaking his head to clear his doubts, Iroh smiled at the rest. "No, nothing at all. Are you going to wear that bracelet Katara? A beautiful lady should wear fine things." _I probably remembered wrongly, _he told himself, _and I am getting old. _

Katara blushed. "Yes, I'm going to wear it. It's lovely!" She slipped it on, and smiled at the rest. "At least coming here wasn't a total loss!"

Sokka snorted and Aang quickly changed the subject.

"Come on guys, let's move on. We've got a lot of ground to cover."

Zuko and his companions made their way through the forest, traveling like they did for the past few days when Zuko had accepted their request to travel with them. In that time, Zuko had shared their food, and watched them work and sometimes hunted for them with his swords. They did not question him, rather they accepted him, and Zuko liked the relationship between them.

Fayer, Thalia and Mikael had told him of how they had met and Zuko found himself slowly warming up to them. He liked their simplicity, and he especially got along well with Fayer, who was from the Fire Nation like him. He talked more freely, and often couldn't help smiling at their antics. Though they were significantly older than him, they still were fun to be around with, and their optimism was infectious.

"So, are you going to stop at the next town?" Zuko asked while leading his horse through the forest with them.

"Yups, we're going to smuggle our writing stuff in, hopefully people will read them and we'll bring forth a revolution," Mikael joked.

"Yes, we'll bring them in and place them inconspicuously in the racks on stalls, and Zuko do you want to see them? Read them and tell us what you think, won't you?" Thalia said, reaching into her pouch which contained all the manuscripts Fayer, Mikael, and herself had written the past few days.

Thalia groped at the insides of her pouch. Nothing! Horrified, she turned to her friends.

"There isn't anything inside! The articles aren't there!"

Fayer looked at Thalia, his face having desperation written all over them. The past month's work had been entrusted to Thalia to keep, and he had personally sweated blood to come up with the pieces he had.

Mikael grabbed Thalia's pouch, searching through it.

"She's right. It isn't there."

Fayer's face crumpled, and for a second Zuko thought Fayer was going to break down. And then, to Zuko's utmost surprise, Fayer's face brightened up, it was filled with hope.

"Never mind. An animal probably stole it, I doubt Thalia would have lost it seeing that she is so conscientious with her belongings. We'll just have to write everything over again."

Zuko watched them, and he could see that though something very important and dear to their hearts had been taken away, they hadn't given up hope.

_Was that how others felt when I took things from them?_

Pushing that thought out of his head, he felt annoyed with himself. He had been thinking about that for a long time already, and he was angry with himself. _I am from the Fire Nation. We cannot be weak. I may have been nice to these people, but inside my heart is still with the Fire nation. _

Zuko turned to them. "Fayer, Thalia, Mikael, I think I should leave you now. You can continue writing your pieces without me around to distract you, and I think it is better for me to move on to the next town first."

Though Fayer was upset, he had grown to like and respect the Prince of Fire for his maturity and responsibility, he smiled and accepted it.

Thalia and Mikael nodded mutely as well, they understood the reason behind the statement.

"We'll miss you, in that short time we've known you still."

Fayer offered his hand for Zuko to shake, and this time, Zuko shook his hand firmly without hesitation like the first time they had met. Impulsively, Fayer drew Zuko into a hug and though Zuko was not used to the contact at first, he relaxed. In spite of everything, the peasants had been generous, kind, and compassionate. Whether they knew of the Fire Nation now hunting him down he did not know, but these people had offered him something he did not really know other than from his uncle Iroh.

Straightening up, Zuko looked at them. "Goodbye, and I wish you good luck."

Zuko made his way through the forest. He covered more ground without his friends by flitting through the trees. Soon, in no time, he heard sounds of a bustling market. Peeping through the trees, he saw that they were as yet not taken by the Fire Nation.

Placing a hat above his head, he gracefully jumped from the trees and blended into the crowd. He looked straight ahead, avoiding all possible eye contact as he walked past merchants selling their merchandise with vigour.

A girl stepped in front of him, and called out, "Lee!" Zuko recognized that voice. Looking downwards, his eyes widened in shock.

The girl in front was Song.

**End of chapter.**

**Zuko will meet Katara and the rest in chap 5, this is the longest chapter I've written up to date. Please review guys, it is important I get feedback from you all. I hope you've liked what I've written, and continue checking this back this story. **

**Myheartsafeather**


	5. Song

Late in the night, Aang and Sokka set up camp while Katara went off to gather firewood. A cry came from the forest and Iroh, Aang and Sokka rushed to check if Katara had been in any danger.

Katara turned to them, horrified, as Aang, Sokka, and Iroh paused beside her near a river.

"I can't bend! I saw the water, and I thought I would practice my waterbending, but I couldn't do a thing!"

Sokka looked at Katara skeptically. "You sure?"

Katara nodded frantically. Raising her hand, she made a huge swooping motion. They waited, sure to see a huge wave of ice appear in the river, but nothing happened. The river was silent.

"You see?" Katara gestured frantically.

Iroh frowned. Something had caught his eye when Katara had moved her hand. _The bracelet! It's stopping her ability to bend!_

Suddenly, Iroh recalled everything. Back in the palace, Ozai had found a new material that could prevent bending ability. It was used to prevent dangerous and high-level benders from escaping and helping fight the war against them. Ozai had tried his best to let the bracelet only apply to water, earth, and air bending but it didn't work. _I bet the Fire Nation soldiers brought the bracelets with them. _

"Katara, try taking the bracelet off," Iroh said.

"What has the bracelet got to do with waterbending?"

"Just try it."

Katara slipped the bracelet off and gave it to Iroh to hold. Dubiously, she stepped into a water whip stance and rocked between the stances. Water came from the river and thwacked Sokka on his head.

"Ouch! That hurt!"

Katara's face was filled with a joyful hope. "Oh, it works! I can waterbend!"

Aang walked over to Iroh and took the bracelet in his hands. Slipping it on, he tried to create an air ball. Nothing.

"This bracelet stops bending ability!" Aang cried out.

"Yes, but-" here sokka fixed Iroh with a penetrating glare. "How did you know?"

"We made those in the Fire nation before, they were used for guarding against criminals."

"Benders, weren't they? You just wanted to stop them from fighting back!"

"Sokka cut Iroh some slack, will you? You've been on his case since he came with us!" Katara muttered, still bending the water gracefully.

"Well, I-I have every right to! He's the Fire Nation, Katara! You can't trust any one of them!"

Katara just was about to argue back when Aang stepped between them. "Come on, let's go back to Appa. He's probably missing us."

"Wait."

Aang, Katara and Iroh turned to look at Sokka. His face was set, and he faced them resolutely.

"I think Iroh should wear the bracelet. He can take it off when Aang learns firebending from him."

"Oh come on-" Katara started.

"I don't mind." Iroh stated. Walking to Aang, he took the bracelet and fastened the clasp. Smiling at them, and ignoring Sokka's open-mouthed face, he said

"Let's go, like Aang said, Appa's probably missing us."

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"Would you like to come and have dinner with us?" Song asked.

"Well…why not…"Zuko stuttered, still shocked.

"So where's your uncle?"

"We went different ways." Zuko muttered under his breath.

Whether Song heard or not he didn't know, she was going through the crowd. The sun was setting and the horizon was a brilliant mix of colors of the palette.

Zuko moved through the crowd, following Song through the throngs and tried to keep a solid conversation going through the noise.

"After you and your uncle left, the Fire Nation came for us. They burnt down our village and up to now, my mother and me seem to be the only ones who escaped."

Zuko didn't know what to say. Sorry?

"We didn't have much when we ran, Mother just managed to grab a few gold pieces and we had to go through the forest. I don't know how we managed to survive, we didn't run very fast, but we made it through the night alive."

Song paused, and it was a few moments later she began again, "When we came where, a few kind souls took us in. We now help them with their business."

Song threaded her way through the crowd quickly, her eyes clouding over with memories. _He doesn't know I know about him and his past…. **Prince Zuko.** _

--

Song and her mother stood terrified in the town center as the Fire Nation barged in, holding up torches alight with flame.

"_Where is Prince Zuko and the traitor Iroh?" one of them barked out. _

"_We don't know who they are!" an elder whispered feebly. _

"_Oh yeah? Then why is it that he was here, old fool!"_

_The crowd muttered, a wave of whispering sweeping past them, as they talked, afraid. _

"_What does he look like, this Prince Zuko, or how else would we know if we had seen him?" a cry rose up from the crowd. _

_The leader of the troop snorted. "He's easy to recognize. Scar on his face, traitor of the Fire Nation, about 17, and a ponytail on his head."_

'_Wait… that sounds like Junior!' Song thought wildly._

_Her mother, as if sensing her fears, spoke out. "What has the Prince done to make you seek him?"_

"_Only defend an entire regiment, showing weakness in front of his father in Agni Kai," the Fire nation captain said derisively. _

_Again, whispers of the crowd grew louder, and Song realized that the mysterious teen she had tried to reach out to was Prince Zuko._

'_He had to fight his father in Agni Kai and his own nation doesn't want him…That's what the scar was for and that's why he's so…real' Song's head was bowed. _

_The Fire nation troops did not spare any more breath talking and sent a wave of fire towards the people. Those lucky ducked. The charred flesh was pungent. _

_Song's mother turned towards her. "Song, Junior was Prince Zuko. We have to run. Now."_

_In the confusion of the fight ensuing in the town center (some courageous villagers had stepped out to fight), Song and her mother fled the scene, not daring to look back, turn around, they just kept running. _

_The days in the woods were tough. Sheer perseverance had led to cross an entire forest in a night. Always that cold, silent fear that the Fire Nation would come for them. _

_Until they reached the home they were staying now. _

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"Mother!" Song called out in a small, dilapidated house, her voice resounding through the area.

A wiry woman stepped out. Her eyes registered surprise as she looked at the newcomer.

"This is Lee, we've met before and I'm inviting him for dinner. Lee, this is Sunako. Sunako, Lee."

Zuko nodded at her and Sunako smiled.

"We'll be having dinner soon, Song you bought the groceries didn't you?" Sunako asked.

"Yes, I did." Song placed the food in the kitchen, and Song's mother came out.

"Mother, Zu- Lee will be having dinner with us. Cook extra, please."

Song's mother momentarily looked surprised but quickly covered that up. With a meaningful look at Song, she nodded and went into the kitchen, cooking up a storm ready for dinner.

Zuko, Song, her mother, Sunako and Kei sat at the round table. Sunako and Kei were earthbenders, but they didn't use their abilities to fight, mainly they made a living by renting a stall in the market and selling embroidery and craftworks.

Zuko bent over his food and ate silently whilst the conversation was going strong at the dinner table.

"Do you know, Lee, that soon after you and your uncle left, our horse went missing?" Song's mother said blithely.

Song looked at Zuko intently. He said nothing but, "Oh, really?"

A wave of bitter disappointment swept past Song. After all she they had went through trying to get to him, and he was still that same _heartless bastard_ who stole other people's belongings.

Song continued eating and stayed silent for the rest of the dinner.

-----

The next day, Song woke up to the bright sun shining in through the blinds. Completely coincidentally, she looked out of her window, squinting at her surroundings.

She blinked and fully opened her eyes this time, and to her amazement, their old horse, the one that went missing, was right out there happily grazing the grass outside.

Joy coursed through her every being. Throwing off her sheets, she rushed to the kitchen, where her trusty mother was cooking something up for breakfast.

"Mother, where is- where is Prince Zuko?"

Her mother looked around. Sunako and Kei were still in bed and the two of them were alone.

"He left last night, he turned down Kei's offer for him to rest here for the night."

"The horse- she's outside now!"

"Oh? Really! That's awesome!" her mother looked delighted.

Song had not revealed to her mother about Zuko stealing their horses, and she reminded herself to mind her mouth as she sat down at the same wooden table, and happily ate her porridge, smiling inwardly.

_Thank you._

_-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Katara carried a jar, and walked towards the river once more. It was time to collect water for the rest, it was early morn and they were still sleeping peacefully.

She moved slowly, enjoying the air and the chirpings of birds as she walked through the forest.

Stopping at the river, she frowned. A man was leaning over the river, he did not seem to be doing anything. _Funny, _she thought, _I don't remember seeing anyone here other than us. _

"Hello!" Katara said cheerfully to the person's back view.

He turned around, and Katara glimpsed a face that was instantly recognizable to her- Prince Zuko!

**-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

**The end of this chapter. **

**Finally, Katara and Zuko meet! Guess what Zuko will do, the conflicted prince he is. Please review people, and be patient for the chapters to come. **

**And yes, I know about the new episode "The Blind Bandit" but I've decided to continue the fanfic from where it left off, Avatar Day. Perhaps later I shall intro Taf in. Taf is a seriously cool girl, I love the fact that she is blind but not helpless. Chap5 is my longest chapter yet :)**

**Don't forget to review! **

**Myheartsafeather.**


	6. Unforgivable

_Today is a gift, that's why it's called the present_

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Katara ran. She had to warn Aang, Sokka, and Iroh, that, _that man, _he was coming for them and would capture them.

Her breath came in short, gasps as her hair whipped back and forth as she pushed her way through the forest. She could tell he was giving chase; it spurred her on to run faster.

Katara burst into the clearing where Aang and Iroh were tending a fire.

"Zuko! He's here!"

Iroh looked up and fixed Katara with a intent stare as Aang asked,

"Where did you see him?"

"At the river. He wasn't doing anything, but chased after me. What are we going to do?"

"Why, attack, of course!" Sokka had just risen from his slumber and was now up and running. "Aang and Katara can take Zuko out by themselves, it should be no problem whatsoever and Zuko will stop bothering us."

Katara looked ready to fight but Aang was strangely hesitant. Then Iroh spoke.

"Can I talk to my nephew in private?"

Aang refocused and turned to Iroh. "How are you going to do that?"

"I will say a few words. Could you leave for a moment?"

Sokka spluttered at the indignity of it, Aang was serious as he told Iroh, "how can we know if you won't attack us with him?"

Iroh gave Aang a look. "I give you my word."

Aang nodded. Iroh may have been from the Fire Nation but the trust Iroh placed in Aang convinced Aang that Iroh would not attack. Whether Zuko would attack was another question.

Sokka protested, but he could do nothing but follow Aang and Katara as they led Appa away to a considerable distance. Aang and Katara looked away but Sokka continued to stare at Iroh.

Iroh joined them a few minutes later and Sokka stared at him.

"Well?"

Iroh said nothing but rejoined the group. Addressing all of them, he turned to Aang and said,

"We can continue traveling now."

Aang, about to say something, but the pain of his face caused Aang to stop short and nod. "Alright."

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Katara pondered over the day's events. It had happened so fast, her seeing Prince Zuko and instantaneously thinking of running, and Iroh later coming back to them.

She didn't know _why_, _why on earth, _had she chosen to run when she saw him. Easily, she could have taken him down; her waterbending was master level already, what had held her back?

Shaking her head to clear her of all those nagging thoughts in her head, she sat atop Appa with Aang, Sokka, and Iroh. She squinted in the dark and stopped short when she caught a glimpse of a familiar face.

_I can't believe it! I thought he'd left already!_

Before given time to react, the Prince sharply featured face came towards them, landing on Appa's back. Aang yelped Momo as a reflex leaped back a bit. Sokka turned to face the Prince. "What do you want?"

Iroh was shocked, not in the least to say gob smacked.

Zuko relaxed, showing signs that he did not want a fight.

"I want to travel with you."

A moment of stunned silence consumed Aang, Sokka, Katara and Iroh. For a moment, even the birds seemed to shut up.

Katara was the first to find her voice. "No way!" she exclaimed, her mind running over the many times Prince Zuko had insulted her verbally and attacked her physically.

Sokka nodded. "I agree with Katara, absolutely no way." Both of them now turned to look at Aang and Iroh.

Aang was running through his mind the day he had found out Zuko was the Blue Spirit in his mind.

_Do you think we could have been friends back then?_

Aang looked at Katara and Sokka. Both seemed absolutely adamant on not having Zuko with them. Iroh was examining Zuko carefully but he said nothing.

_Iroh would want Zuko with us, _he realized. _And so do I. But will he endanger us all?_

It hit Aang like a train. "Zuko, if you want to travel with us, would you mind wearing this bracelet always and never taking it out?" Aang held out the gold bracelet to him. Zuko's eyes narrowed. No doubt he was remembering the times back in his country and was weighing the pros and cons.

"I'll wear the bracelet," Zuko said. Aang gave him a sharp, scrutinizing look.

"Will you take it out?"

Zuko gritted his teeth. "No," he said with his mouth clenched.

"Can you swear by your honour that you won't?" Aang pestered him.

"Yes." Zuko muttered.

Katara and Sokka watched open-mouthed at the proceedings that were happening before them.

"All right then!"

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Zuko lingered on Appa's back, recalling the day's events. Already he had begun to regret wearing the bracelet. He missed firebending, and it made him all the more so frustrated and stressed.

The girl, and her brother had refused to talk to him. Iroh was the only one continuing to talk to Zuko, and try to teach him in ways he never realized.

Zuko watched wistfully as Iroh and Aang practiced their fire bending. Longing to rip off the bracelet and join them was burning at his heart.

The girl tapped his shoulder.

"What?" he snapped, his temper making him irritable.

Her eyes narrowed. "Nothing, I'm sure. I was just wondering if you might like me to wash your clothes for you. Since you are the Prince, I highly doubt that you need me to."

Zuko balked at the prospect. She wanted to wash his clothes for him?

Turning his head back at the fire bending that was going on in front of him, he stayed silent as the girl walked off in a huff.

---

"Excuse me, Mr. Prince, but you need to go and find some food for us. You can't exactly sit here and enjoy free food, you know," Sokka said cattily, dropping a bundle of wood in front of him.

Zuko said nothing and got up. He strode to the forest and Sokka started. He had expected the prince to argue back, maybe even challenge him to a fight, but he certainly had not expected the Prince to actually listen to him.

--

Zuko laid some meat in front of the fire. Katara, Sokka, and Aang were amazed. In all their time traveling, no one had hunted and they mainly existed on nuts and berries.

"You took off your bracelet, didn't you?" Sokka accused him directly.

"No." Zuko's face was masked with zero emotion.

"Then how'd you get those?"

Zuko did not say anything and directly placed the meat over the fire on a stick, roasting it. Aang shot Sokka a look and Sokka shut his mouth.

Zuko passed the meat around neatly on a washed bough he had picked up. Iroh ate the meat heartily, and privately he whispered to Zuko, "did you steal it?"

"No uncle."

_That's good enough for me,_ Iroh thought.

They had almost finished up their dinner when sounds and lights from nearby came to their ears.

Everyone stilled, making no noise as they listened intently. Suddenly, a dagger flew straight at Aang. If not for his quick dodging, the dagger would have pierced straight through his heart.

_Oh, no, _Katara thought. _Not them again. _

Aang shot a look at all of them. "Run or fight?" he mouthed.

"Are you crazy? Run!" Sokka mouthed straight back at him. But it was too late. Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee burst through the forest and straight at them. Behind, soldiers emerged dozen by dozen, streaming through the forest. Aang attacked immediately, giving out huge gusts of wind.

Katara sent out ice daggers and Sokka used his boomerang. Zuko and Iroh had taken off their bracelets and was fire bending.

Through all the chaos of the fight, Azula managed to find Zuko.

"Dearest Zu Zu!" she exclaimed, full of malice. "Now traveling with the enemy, it seems!"

Zuko snarled and sent a wave of fire at her. Azula deflected it easily and continued, "You poor traitor. Even Father doesn't want you anymore!"

Zuko growled and launched himself at her. The siblings fought it out, sending massive fires to each other, only for every one of them to be dodged and deflected.

Azula's eyes sharpened. _Time to end this fight, _she thought. Concentrating immensely, she called lightning to her fingertips. Zuko's eyes widened as the lightning ball shot directly at him with the speed of light. As if in slow motion, he was pummeled backwards, his back hitting a tree with a huge thud.

Azula dusted her hands. "Oh, what a shame." Turning her heel, she was about to stalk back to the foray when a blast of fire hit her.

"You just won't give up, won't you?" she snarled furiously at her brother. Once again, she called lightning to her hands.

Zuko stared at it. _If I don't act fast, I'd be done, just like before._

Thoughts raced through his head and something came to his mind. The girl was practicing waterbending, and he had watched her train. His mind instantly picked out a move she had used that had stuck into his mind for its simple, easy grace and majesty.

Almost as if his mind ran on clockwork, he stepped forward in a stance he had never tried before. _Push, and pull, _he muttered to himself. _Push, pull. _

A wave of massive fire rose in front of Zuko as it rocked back and forth. Beads of sweat ran down his forehead as he struggled to contain the wall of fire.

Azula looked up, and unleashed her lightning bolt from her fingertips. Zuko's fingers shook as he withstood the pressure the lightning bolt created colliding against his wave of fire. _It hurts, _his mind shrieked.

Azula gaped at the magnificent wall of fire in front of her, and only one thought resounded through her head as the wave of fire came crashing down on her. _If there was a time for Ty Lee to come and do her funny acupuncture things, it would be now. _

Zuko stood up. Azula lay crumpled on the floor. Dead or not, he didn't know or care. A while back, he might even have saved her, as she was his blood and kin. But she had lied, cheated, and manipulated even her own family to reach her goals.

_That was unforgivable, sister. _

**End of chapter. **

**Whew! The first parts of the chapter were a bit draggy and difficult to write, but the action scenes came flowing fast and free for me. Thank you guys for reviewing, and yup I now know The Blind Bandit's name.(sheepish grin)**

**Once again, thanks for the advice, from everyone, I made my story reviewable by everyone(me being a newbie I didn't even know it was disenabled). Don't forget to review this chapter as well. Thanks a million, **

**Myheartsafeather**


	7. Fight! and Trapped!

Mai's eyes were disbelieving. Azula, down? Anger boiled deep inside her as she watched her brother stand over her lifeless body.

Mai charged.

Arrows flew out from her hands. Zuko, who had turned around just in time, sent up a wall of fire to block it immediately.

_Mai. The one who graduated with First Class Honours in assassination._

Mai circled around him like an eagle circling around her helpless prey. Zuko twirled around too, always keeping Mai in sight

Like a flash, Zuko kicked out, sending fire into a spot where Mai had just been. Taking this chance, Mai retaliated, sending knives from left, right, and left again, moving so quickly that the two of them were a blur in the forest.

Zuko dodged down, leaped up high, and sent a blast of fire towards Mai. Mai jumped up high, and in between her fingers gleamed the shine of pure diamond knives.

Mai landed on ground, raising her arms and rushed at Zuko. Her black cape flew, like a she-devil, as she firstly kicked Zuko in the guts then let fly of the knives wedged between her fingers

Zuko, already weakened by the kick, twisted a sharp right to avoid the kill of the daggers. But he needn't have.

A wall of ice stood in front of him, and the knives landed on them, one by one, until the ice cracked down and the knives clattered onto the ground.

Katara looked at him and then at Mai. Her eyes settled on Mai. Katara smiled. "We have some unfinished business, I think."

Katara sent water out, moving deftly across the grassy ground. Water turned to ice once they left her, and Mai avoided every one of them gracefully.

Mai sent her knives flying from every angle, circling around Katara.

Katara sent a wave of water crashing down on Mai, and at the same time two more people entered the battle between the two courageous females.

Ty Lee leaped through the air, her braid flying behind her. Her curvaceous body turned into a graceful arc as she leaped through the air, a blur of whooshes.

Somersaulting, she moved around Katara, jabbing her chi points sharply. Katara winced with every one of her stabs, her bending stopped for the moment.

Ty Lee nodded at Mai. Mai took this advantage, and with the speed of light, turned 360 degrees and let all her knives fly straight at her opponent.

Mai's eyes were narrowed, and as if in slow motion, she watched all her knives with a keen intensity. She relished every moment, Katara's eyes growing wider, and trying to raise some water-bending, as the knives grew closer…and closer…..

Zuko stepped in front of Katara and a wall of fire engulfed the knives, melting them to the ground.

Ty Lee, who was watching every scene, leaped up, and joined Mai's side. Two against two.

This was going to get interesting. …

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Amidst the noise and chaos, a finger twitched.

Azula's eyes opened, and she was disgusted to find herself sprawled onto the ground. She tried to move her legs, but a searing pain shot up her spine and she groaned.

Looking around at her army, her mind assessed and analysed the situation. She tried to move her other hand. Nothing. It was numb.

Closing her eyes, she prayed desperately that this would work. Two of her fingers sparked with blue lightning and then it fizzled out.

Azula let out a snarl of anger and frustration. With great effort, she reached into her pocket. Grasping a small, ivory horn, she raised it to her lips.

The horn cried out, and far away, Fire Nation troops stopped what they were doing.

Katara's eyes fixed onto her opponents. "I saw you use my wave just now," she muttered softly to Zuko.

His eyes widened but he did not relax his stare at his opponents either.

"It was good."

Mai's eyes, at that moment, twitched. Ty Lee's mouth was beginning to curve into a smile.

"What?" Zuko said, and that was the last thing he remembered saying before a net from behind flew at the two of them.

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Katara woke up the next morning, her joints stiff. Propping herself up on her elbows, she opened her eyes to the surroundings around her.

Her eyes grew accustomed to the dark and she blinked twice. _Oh no, _she thought dismally, as she remembered yesterday's events.

She turned to look around her. Zuko was at the other side of the cell, still sleeping. Sighing, she spotted two plates of food. Picking one up, she ate her meal silently.

"Looks like it's going to be just me and him."

Katara rolled her eyes.

"This is _so _sad!"

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Zuko woke up the next day, ignoring the cracks in his bones made as he stiffly got up.

He glanced around. Stuck in a cell! He growled as he remembered the fight yesterday and the stupid net.

_How could I have been so stupid not to see that? _He thought to himself.

The girl interrupted his train of thoughts. "Oh, good. You're awake. I thought you'd never wake up", she muttered, passing Zuko a plate of food.

Zuko ignored that last comment and moved gingerly, helping himself to the food. He felt the girl's eyes on him. Ignoring it, he finished his food ( a pathetic bread of so little water )

He stood up, and winced slightly. Noticing his pain, the girl stood up.

"I've healed my own injuries, but I didn't check yours. I can heal you now if you want."

Zuko sat down. "I don't need a peasant to heal me," he muttered under his breath.

Unfortunately, Katara had heard him. She gave him a resounding slap across his cheeks. "Listen, you spoiled prince, I don't _have_ to heal you, you know! I could just leave you here to fend for yourself!"

Zuko felt his face and body temperature heat up with anger. She had just called him a _spoiled prince!_

With a jolt, Zuko remembered the time during the storm when Lietenant Jee had called him a spoiled prince. _Believe it or not, I actually miss the crew, _he mused.

Putting on a blank face, he faced the girl. "Then don't heal me if you don't want to."

She looked at him, infuriated. "Argh!" she snarled.

Zuko got up once again, and looked at his surroundings. No windows. He sighed. _Trapped._

Sitting down, he began to meditate calmly. His hands were placed on his knees and he breathed in and out methodically.

Katara stared. _How can that guy meditate when we're stuck here? _She thought. Sitting down herself, she settled into a sleeping position and tried to get herself to sleep.

Inside, Zuko's mind was a whirlwind of mass confusion. Initially, his plan was to travel with the Avatar and eventually capture him. Now, he was stuck with the girl. Plus, his injuries were no laughing matter.

Once again he sighed inwardly. _Concentrate on meditation, _he whispered to himself.

--

A guard came to give Zuko and Katara food the next day. Katara, who was awake at that moment, took that chance to talk to the guard.

"Where are we going?"

"We're traveling to Omashu. The Fire Nation governors will house us there."

Zuko had stopped meditating. "The Fire Nation has captured Omashu?" he asked.

"Yes." The soldier gave prince Zuko a look of respect. Unlike the others, he had been a spectator when Prince Zuko fought his father.

Quickly, he shoved the food under the prison cage and left.

Katara picked at her food and shot a glance at Prince Zuko.

"Are you going to meditate all day?" she asked.

Prince Zuko gave a mere nod. Katara sighed. "Today's going to be boring, I guess."

Prince Zuko gave her an inscrutable look and turned back to his meditating when she had finished.

"Don't you ever do anything other than eat , sleep and meditate?" Katara asked out of interest.

"Yes."

"Like what?"

"Back in the Fire Nation one had to endure many dinners and dances. I learned all of the dances. Thanks to my uncle."

"Your uncle is nice," Katara stated. "He seems really wise."

Zuko smiled. Though his back was turned from her, he said

"Oh, he is."

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**End of chap everyone! Today a new Avatar epi will come out, Zuko Alone. I can't wait! (squeals) I love Zuko to bits, I'll admit. Haha I'm a crazy fangirl.**

**Though I don't reply to my reviews, I do read them, and I am glad you guys have reviewed. I'd like to thank Christine she gave me the name "Sunako" in chap5.**

**Also, don't forget to continue reviewing! Zutarainess may take a new spin, when I wrote things out it seemed better to go with the flow then to go with my planned plots. **

**I'll continue to write and don't forget to R and R! **

**Myheartsafeather.**


	8. Cold

Katara leaned back in her cell. It was nearing dinnertime already, and from lunch right up to now Zuko hadn't said anything.

It wasn't that she was desperate to talk to that spoiled prince, but it was just _so boring_ !

There was no water, and it had been such a long day. "Zuko?" she asked, to see if he actually said 'yes' and then maybe they could talk or something, anything, better than what she was going through now.

Zuko didn't reply. He was still meditating.

Katara groaned. _Typical. _

_If he won't talk, then I will. _"Why do you always hunt us down?" she asked his back.

"I mean, you once said something about honour, but I didn't really get what you meant at that time. I was tied to a tree" here she grimaced. "And you were there dangling my necklace in front of me."

Katara sighed. "At least I got my necklace back," she mused. "I don't know what I'd do without it."

Zuko turned to face her, he had stopped meditating. "Can you please keep quiet? It's hard to meditate with you yakking away!"

Katara glanced at him. In normal cases she would have taken offence but now she was just too tired to take any notice.

"If you haven't noticed, you're really dull company. And I've got nothing to do!"

Zuko turned from her to continue meditating. He had turned too fast though, and he winced at the sharp pain he felt in his shoulder.

Katara had noticed that. "Too bad you didn't let me heal you just now," she said with a smirk.

Zuko ignored her. She was right, the pain was getting worse. He couldn't firebend due to the pain, and though he was longing to firebend, he couldn't ask the girl for help.

The guards came at that moment to bring their dinner. Katara had long given up on talking to them, mostly they were too afraid of revealing information they shut up and kept to themselves.

Katara grabbed her meal and the water, the water was barely enough to waterbend. Still, she bended the water for a bit before drinking it. Eating her plain bread, she turned to look at Zuko.

"What do you think they'll do with us?"

"Mai and Ty Lee will probably bring us to the Fire Nation capital where they will try me in court. You'll probably be their prisoner and bait."

"For Aang to rescue me?"

"Yes."

Katara nodded and pushed the plate back to the guards. Zuko's water was left there, he hadn't taken it.

Katara saw that, and she said, "Do you want me to heal you?" her voice carried a sense of satisfaction.

Zuko nodded and sat down. Katara took the water, and placed it beside her as she sat behind him.

"Where does it hurt?" she asked.

Zuko pointed at his shoulder blades. Carefully, Katara took off his shirt. She gasped, first at the sight of dried red gashes and then at his well-defined muscles.

Bending the water, Katara covered the gashes. It glowed for a moment, and it was healed.

Zuko was amazed. _I don't feel anymore pain, its healed. _

Turning to her, he gave his thanks. He did not openly smile, but his eyes were warm and he nodded.

Katara smiled. _Finally I see him say thank you. _

_----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

_Fire everywhere, soldiers coming, streaming in from all sides. Soldiers swarmed like ants coming from the nest-hole, they were everywhere, surrounding us, they will kill us!_

_Panic risen in everyone of them, they began to run, run far far away from the hell behind. But they could never run fast enough for them, they were coming, the gleams on their teeth, like a hunter hunting down his prey, till the prey submissively cried, cried out, cried for the whole world to hear_

_But nobody was coming. The soldiers devoured them, one by one, they're going to reach me! Oh my-_

"Girl! Wake up!" Katara opened her eyes to find herself sweating. It was Zuko who had woken her up. He looked at her.

"You were having a nightmare," he said. "Shaking and shivering."

"I dreamt about the Fire Nation," Katara said shakily. "They were coming for me."

Zuko's face was blank once more. "Go back to sleep, girl," he said.

Katara nodded, still shaken by her nightmare. "My name is Katara, not girl." She told him as she lay down to rest.

Zuko gave a noncommittal grunt as he faced the other way.

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In the carriage, a torch lit up the darkness and cast a shadow outside on two women.

Mai looked at Ty Lee. "Azula is hurt, her brother attacked her. The physician says he can't heal her bones. We'll need a natural healer for that."

Ty Lee looked at her friend. "A waterbender?" she questioned.

Mai nodded. She smiled as she twirled a knive in her hand. "We'll get one to heal her ."

"What are you going to do with the prisoners?" Ty Lee asked.

"Bring them to Lord Ozai. Azula can do the rest."

Ty Lee turned to Mai. "You do know what Azula will ask him to do, don't you?" she said. _He'll rape the girl and kill his son, Mai._

Mai looked straight ahead.

"I do not know."


	9. The True Meaning

**To my flamer SBBC: I won't give up writing even though you may think I suck at it. I love writing. Thanks for reviewing, but I don't give up. **

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Azula awoke, finding herself on a spartan bed. What am I doing here? She whispered to herself as she propped herself up on her elbows.

"Oh good. You're finally awake." Mai said, examining her fingernails.

Azula sat up. An elderly woman hovered at the door, extremely nervous.

"Who are you?" she barked at her.

The elderly woman gave a squeak and disappeared. Mai waved a hand of nonchalance. "She's a waterbender healer. The physician said he couldn't heal your broken spine."

Azula felt herself heat up in anger. "Well, I am up. Did you manage to capture the Avatar or my brother?"

Mai shrugged. "Zuko and some waterbending girl is captured with us and they're in the traveling jail cell. Fire Nation troops nearby came and backed us up. Unfortunately, The Avatar, Iroh, and the boy got away."

Azula narrowed her eyes at Mai. "So where did you tell the guards to head?"

"Omashu. My father will give us a house to rest."

Azula nodded. "Good," she purred. Getting up, she smiled at the traveling carriage next to her. "It's good to be back."

Mai stood up as well. Azula hurried to the door, but she was stopped by the sound of Mai's voice.

"What are you going to do with the prisoners?"

"Mai, Mai, Mai. Always so curious. Wouldn't you like to know?" Azula whispered as she smirked and slipped out of the room. _Time for a little revenge, Zu Zu_, Azula smirked and inwardly rejoiced.

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Zuko rose the instance the sun came up. The girl- Katara- was still sleeping, nonetheless because she was woken up at night. His eyes focused onto the sleeping girl as he was inevitably reminded of his mother.

_She was so beautiful, so elegant_. Zuko thought as he remembered his mother- Lia.

Zuko got up, and stretched. A moment later, Azula burst into the cell.

"My dear Zu Zu!" she purred.

Zuko was instantly on the alert. Katara, woken up by Azula's voice, blinked confusedly at the surroundings.

"What do you want, Azula?" he hissed in anger as he prepared a battle stance.

"Nothing, my dear brother. And how is our other prisoner?" she nodded at Katara.

Zuko narrowed his eyes. "She's fine."

Azula raised her eyebrows, smirking inwardly. "Do you remember Mai? The day you literally fell on her?"

"You put a burning apple on her head!" Zuko shouted, raising his voice.

Katara, fully awake now, stood up, her eyes darting between Zuko and the girl he called Azula. _They look so alike but seem so different, she thought. Who is she?_

Azula walked closer to them, nearing closer and closer to the cell before making a sharp turn. She walked around in circles, her finger on her chin.

"Maybe our little female prisoner would like to know about her fellow prison-mate, wouldn't she?" she mused, cocking her head to her side.

Katara looked at her. "Who are you?" she asked. _Wait… isn't she that girl Zuko fought?_

"Me?" Azula purred. "Oh, I am Zuko's sister! We're related, you see."

"So how's my brother been?" she asked, her voice high-pitched. "Been nice to you?"

Katara looked confused. _Are they fighting?_ She asked herself inwardly. She remained silent , confused.

"Shut up, Azula," Zuko grated.

"No I won't! Well, my fellow girl friend, I'll tell you about Zuko!"

"Did you know, from young, he's always lost to me in just about everything? No wait, I think he lost to me in _everything_. He was always with Mother. A mummy's boy! That's it, till when my mother died. He was so devastated," she purred happily.

"And when he was about 13, my failed uncle brought him into the war chamber where he was so weak- he actually defended the 46th regiment from war! And then when he found out he had to fight Father in Agni Kai, he didn't even dare.

_"I won't fight you, Father! Please have mercy_!" she mimicked, grinning at Zuko's face.

"So Father gave him that scar!" Azula pointed to the left scar on Zuko's face. "A well deserved one!"

"And then he was banished, sent to go and find the Avatar with the prisoners and the lowest soldiers of the ranks. And my uncle, who couldn't even handle his son's death, went with him. Poor, poor Zuko."

Azula spun around one more circle, her hard eyes stayed unflinching on her brother's.

"Give it up, Zuko. Father doesn't want you back anymore. Not even if you can capture the Avatar." Azula stated, her voice turning hard.

Azula laughed. A cold, merciless laugh, as she turned around and flounced out of the jail cell. "That was even funnier than Mai and Zuko getting soaked that day!" her receding voice resounded through the cell as she stalked off.

Katara gazed at Zuko, as if seeing him for the first time. He remained silent and turned his back from her. Katara reached out and touched his shoulder. He shook it off, and when he spoke, a low voice, filled with anger, said, "I don't want your pity, you water bending peasant, nor do I need it."

Katara's hand fell limply by her side as she spoke, still facing his back. "When I was about 9, the Fire Nation's troops attacked my home, the South Pole."

Zuko stiffened, a slight movement that went unnoticed by Katara, who continued speaking.

"My mother was killed, burned at the stake. They forced us to watch." Katara said, her voice trembling.

"When they left, they took my father with him as their prisoner. He never came back," she said.

"When my mother was burned at the stake, it was horrible, she was screaming, and she gave me my necklace," Katara said, her voice filled with emotion as she stared pleadingly at Zuko's back.

"The necklace is with me always, it is my mother's necklace and it is all I have left of her." Katara said.

"Zuko, I'm-" Katara was cut off as Zuko stalked to the furthest corner of the cell and sat down there. "I don't want to hear it Katara. It doesn't make a difference."

Katara stopped, her heart filled with despondency. "If you say so," she mumbled, as she settled down in her corner of the cell as well.

_I know his past now but why doesn't it make me feel any better?_

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Sokka hopped around on Appa's back, frustrated. "Aang, you sure you saw the Fire Nation heading for Omashu?"

Aang sighed. "Sokka, that's the fifth time you're asking me this question. Yes, I'm sure I saw them! We should be nearing the place by now."

"Well, I'm worried about Katara!" Sokka said, finally plunking himself onto Appa. "What if they're torturing her? And she's stuck with that bratty prince!"

Iroh looked up from his position at the rear. "They may benefit by being together in these circumstances," he said, stroking his beard.

Sokka snorted. "I'm sure Zuko will benefit, but Katara certainly won't!"

Iroh turned to Sokka and Aang.

"You might be surprised," he drawled.

Sokka snorted again and Aang interrupted. "How will we save them once we are there?"

"Maybe one of us can be a distraction while the other two can go in and do the rescuing," Iroh suggested.

"Good idea, Iroh," Aang said as he focused on the shape of the once-great Earth Kingdom appearing through the mist.

_We'll save Katara, buddy_,Aang whispered to himself as he patted Appa's head. _We have to._

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The traveling carriages and caravans entered into the city of Omashu as Mai alighted at the entrance. Mai barely looked at the guard, saying, "Go tell my father we're having a rest here."

The guard bowed and nodded, scurrying away quickly as they opened the gates for them. Mai hopped back in to front and most exquisitely decorated carriage. She sat with Ty Lee, facing Azula.

Azula looked at Mai. "Good job," she said as the carriages moved in, drawn by men hoisting the carriage up on their shoulders.

Mai simply nodded. "We'll have to stop and visit my father for a while," she said. "He'll certainly request it."

"We will go and show him our prisoners," Azula said, flicking her eyes back and forth from Mai to Ty Lee.

Azula smiled. "We can bring the prisoners for a look-see around Omashu. Daddy told me that he gave orders for it to be converted for slaves to mine the area."

The carriage came to a halt as two messengers appeared in front of them.

"Begging your pardon for the interruption, my fair ladies, but the governor is requesting an audience with you," they bowed down.

Azula nodded. Turning to a few guards that had immediately appeared when the messengers came, she instructed them to chain the prisoners and bring them out.

A few minutes later, a struggling Zuko and Katara came out, their hands firmly bound by chains. Azula smirked as she saw Zuko carefully avoiding eye contact with the girl. _Serves you right for fighting me, my dearest brother, I always win._

Zuko's eyes widened as he looked around at Omashu. The once-great Earth Kingdom had been turned into a slave-drive, where men and women alike dressed in shabby clothing, Zuko recognizing some of them as superior benders of their elements. All were trapped now, trapped in a city of revulsion.

Nearby, trades and industries had sprung up, courtesy of enterprising entrepreneurs of the Fire Nation who had come to Omashu to set up businesses. The city, however, was run horridly- slipshod, dilapidated housing. The Fire Nation civilians themselves were living in run-down areas infested by rats and other pests.

Zuko gritted his teeth._ Is this how the world ended up?_ He questioned.

Katara glared at Azula, wide eyed. "What have you done to these people?" she asked angrily. "How can you degrade them like this?"

Azula turned to her, laughing slightly and gave her a degrading stare.

Katara snarled, facing the ground as she struggled against the chains. 'No doubt you think I'm one of them too,' she muttered angrily.

Azula showed no sign of her hearing what she said and walked forward, following the two messengers with Mai and Ty Lee by her side. Mai looked straight ahead, avoiding all possible eye contact while Azula strode onwards confidently. Soldiers were pushing Zuko and Katara behind them.

Katara risked a glance at the teenaged boy struggling beside her. _What is he feeling?_ She wondered. After all, this is what his people have done.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the low sound of Zuko's voice as he spoke audibly, but softly, to the soldier behind him.

"Why is this place like this?"

The soldier hesitated before replying. "Under strict orders from Fire Lord Ozai, the place was turned into a central for the Fire Nation to house their prisoners and use them to work. The city's administration problems have not been handled well and um… some trouble-makers did not improve anything by releasing pests as a prank"

Zuko snorted. "And the governor can do nothing to prevent all this?" he asked.

The soldier looked at Zuko and said simply. "Quite honestly Prince Zuko, I do not think that he even cares."

Zuko nodded, but he when he spoke out again, his voice had a certain ring to it, as he was speaking from his heart.

"That is not the true meaning of being a leader."

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**End of chapter everyone! I watched Zuko Alone and I loved it to bits. Altho I'm kinda sad that the boy turned away Zuko in the end when he found out that he was the prince of fire nation. Okay, I will reply my reviews when I have time. I hope you like this chapter! **

**Don't forget to review! **

**Myheartsafeather**


	10. Trouble

A boy turned up in front of two guards standing guard over a room. Dressed in simple waterbending clothes, he sidled up to the guards.

"Help! Me and my friend were carrying the uh- load and then we tripped and my friend is now trapped under the load!" he said, approaching the guards.

The guards looked straight ahead, showing no signs of having heard.

He looked at the two of them and his mouth gaped open. "Hello? Didn't you guys hear me? My friend is trapped!"

Nothing. They continued staring forward.

"Well, this wasn't the plan, but, since nothing is working…." He walked up close to the guard and kicked his stomach, causing him to double over quickly. Iroh and Aang rushed forward to take down the second guard.

Aang cocked his eye at Sokka. "This wasn't supposed to be the plan! Lucky me and Iroh hadn't gone in to rescue Katara and Zuko yet, and were here to give you back up."

Sokka grunted. "Well the plan didn't work. Come on, let's go in and save Katara!"

Iroh paused at the door. "Sokka and I will make sure no one goes in while you create a distraction and take them."

Aang nodded, and quickly, he disappeared. Moving up alongside the walls, he leaped to the window ledge and looked in. Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee were discussing something with the governor and his wife. Chains bound Zuko and Katara and two guards stood guard over them, huddled in a corner. Aang noted that they were barely speaking to each other.

Sucking in a deep breath, Aang burst in through the window. The sudden noise caught Zuko's eye and their eyes met for a brief second before an gust of air clouded the whole room.

Zuko muttered to Katara in a low voice, "Get ready. Your friend the Avatar will save us."

Katara gave him a questioning look, but Zuko had no time to reply as they were swept up by Aang.

"Hold on to me!" he shouted to them as Zuko and Katara grabbed one of his legs respectively, dangling precariously in the air.

Aang struggled to bring them out as the smoke was beginning to clear. Just at the last moment, he crashed out of the door, tumbled to the ground as Iroh, Zuko, Katara, Sokka, and Aang picked themselves up and hopped onto Appa whom Sokka had brought resting by the window.

When the confusion first set in, Azula, knocked out for a moment by the air current, was clueless as to how to react. But, just as the smoke began to clear, she regained her senses and sent a blue lightning bolt straight at the doorway.

"Ow!" a soldier screamed, grabbing his leg. He had dashed there to stop the Avatar from escaping but was a moment too late.

Azula glared at him with a look of pure hate written all over her features. Waving her hand at her comrades Mai and Ty Lee, who were just beginning to pick themselves up from the floor, she snapped out

"We are going. The Avatar cannot have traveled far."

With that, she strode out of the room. Ty Lee gave the shocked governor and his wife and apologetic look as they followed her.

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Appa speeded off in the air as Iroh, grabbing onto Appa, shouted over to Zuko " So how was it in there?"

Zuko shook his head. "Not fun." The wind ruffled his cropped hair up as he held onto Appa tightly.

Iroh gave him a sly glance. "Being stuck with a beautiful lady isn't fun?"

Zuko gave him a murderous glare and looked around quickly. Thankfully, Katara was too busy talking to Sokka to notice. Aang was listening to them, laughing gaily as the two siblings caught up with each other.

"Shut up, Uncle."

His uncle chuckled. "Sure." He said, whilst smirking.

Zuko scowled. "Stop it uncle!"

Iroh simply chuckled whilst smiling to himself as Zuko let out a snarl of frustration and turned away.

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A warm fire crackled by as Katara, Sokka, Iroh, Zuko and Aang sat around, eating dinner. They had traveled quite a great distance by air and had settled down and built a fire on parched ground.

Aang wiped his hands clean. "Iroh, can we start training?"

Iroh nodded, quickly gobbling up the remaining meat. He wiped his mouth as he followed Aang. There, Zuko watched wistfully as they went through the Fire bending techniques.

_Damn it…. I had to wear that stupid bracelet once we got back._

While doing the dishes, Katara noticed Zuko's face as he sat off to the side. She sighed. After Azula told her about Zuko's past, she found herself more and more just accepting him for who he was. _His own dad scarred him… that must be horrible. _

For some strange reason, she had not told Sokka and Aang about what Azula had revealed to her. Only telling them that the firebending female prodigy's name was Azula. It was as if her heart was telling her not to, not to betray his trust in her that she wouldn't tell.

Katara rolled her eyes at herself. _It's not as if he was desperate to shut me up, _she told herself.

For some reason, she had kind of been intrigued by him when they first met. She smiled as she remembered how he had grabbed her hands when she was running from the pirates. _I'll save you from the pirates, _she whispered to herself softly, smiling at the memory.

Katara finished up washing the dishes, and laid down to watch the sky. _I'll get through to that stubborn prince somehow, _she resolved, _till he accepts that there are people willing to be his friend. _

Iroh and Aang came back from their training, both of them hot and sweaty. A look of pure euphoria was on Aang's face- he loved learning firebending.

Katara smiled at them as she got up. The sky had turned dark quickly, and Sokka piped up from the background, saying "We'll rest here for the night, I think we're far away enough from the fire nation."

They turned to sleep, and Katara tossed and turned in her bed. Finally, giving it up, she got up. Sokka, Iroh, Zuko, and Aang were fast asleep in their beds. Standing up, she slowly crept away, walking into the forest.

Katara breathed in the smell of the forest, as she looked around in the darkness and heard the rustling leaves. Treading carefully, she walked deeper and deeper into the heart of the forest.

Suddenly, she turned. "Funny", she said aloud. "I could have sworn there was some light over there."

Turning back, she gasped as a net flew at her, binding her to a tree. A group of men, lumbered slowly over to her, tripping over tree roots as they came.

Katara felt her stomach curl as they walked towards her. _They're drunk, _she said in revulsion and fear.

A man with straggly hair walked up to her. Katara pushed herself back to the tree as he reached out a dirty fingernail and stroked her chin.

"This is a good one," he said, leering at her. "Boys, we're going to have fun tonight."

Katara screamed as they removed the net and slowly came up to her, smiling like a cat that had caught its prey.

_Oh, please, someone- help me! _

_--------------------------------------------_

End of chapter. This was quite short but some Zutara will be coming up next, don't worry.

**Don't forget to review! **

**Myheartsafeather**


	11. First Kiss

**To Zukofan: Thank you for your reviews! I really appreciate it. :)**

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_Zuko turned around, and gasped in shock. He was back in his home! On a dusty ground, right outside the Fire Nation palace, and his wife, a beautiful woman with long brown hair, his son, a small toddler and his dog were running towards him. _

_He himself was in royalty wear, and he was taller and more muscular. The scar that had adorned his left eye was missing. _

_Zuko reached out for his family, but right at that moment, they froze right on the spot, with only their eyes still moving, searching Zuko's face. _

_Zuko let out a cry of surprise and struggled. He too was stuck, but he was sinking! He desperately tried to reach out to his wife, but she was stuck, a hopeless look on her face. _

_He sank, into a mass darkness of the vortex of black space. Falling…._

_A loud voice resounded from the sky like thunder, "Follow your heart and it will lead you to your destiny Prince Zuko…."_

_And that was the last thing he heard before he gave himself up. _

_Falling…_

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Zuko woke up, shooting up from his position on the ground. Wide-eyed, his breath came out in sharp gasps, as he placed a hand over his heart to calm the racing beats.

_That seemed so real…._ he thought as he quenched the fear inside him and controlled his hyperventilation.

He looked around. "If the water tribe boy saw that, I'm dead," he muttered softly under his breath.

Luckily, Sokka, Iroh and Aang were still sound asleep in the dark night. His eyes ran over them as he breathed a sigh of relief.

_Wait! _His mind screamed out. Zuko swung his head over to them again. Sokka, Aang, Iroh, where was the girl?

As if on cue, a scream reached Zuko's ears. A soft one, but nevertheless and scream. He stopped and listened intently, cocking his head in concentration.

A woman's voice, a soft one, reached his ears again, "Please help me- anyone, please!"

Zuko got up, and reached for his swords. Half of him was telling him to mind his own business, but something much louder, his heart, was telling him to go do his duty.

Zuko snorted at himself as he broke into a run, careful not to disturb his sleeping comrades. _What duty? Saving the world? That's the Avatar's job, _he muttered grimly.

Zuko moved through the forest carefully, flitting through it quickly, following the direction of the scream.

Seconds seemed like hours and even days to him as he moved through the never-ending maze of trees, his eyes and every part of him ready for attack.

_There it is again! _He told himself frantically as one more scream resounded through the forest, much louder this time. _I'm reaching it…._

Zuko burst into a clearing, and his eyes widened as he took in the scenario with disgust filling him the more he watched.Katara, half-dressed, with dirty old men crawling over her, like ants crawling over little bits of crumbs!

Within the few seconds in which he entered, he quickly regained his senses. With a roar, he brought down his swords on the first man he saw, rage filling him as he clenched his swords, quickly balancing himself on the ground and a fast swift movement came from his arm as he tossed his swords in a beautiful demonstration of swordplay.

The girl's sobs grew in his ear as he fought, demolishing one after another. His heart hardened as he became more ruthless with the next one that came charging at him, as her cries reached his ears and filled his mind.

He risked a glance at her. She was sobbing her heart out, crying, picking her clothes up with desperation.

_No! _

The last man of the group came and Zuko lost all control. With rage harnessed deep inside him, he let loose a huge fire ball at him, leaving him to crawl away, the smell of charred flesh filling the air.

Zuko faced the forest, watching them crawl away quickly. Surprisingly, even to himself, he felt nothing. Only sweat dripping down his forehead, down his face.

He turned to the girl. She was clutching her clothes, clutching them to her chest, as she leaned against a tree and sobbed. Tears ran like waves down her tan face, and her nose and eyes were red as she sneezed, more tears came pouring down her face and she shut her eyes and cried.

Zuko moved towards her, reaching out his hand, but a strangling, choked cry came up from her.

"Don't touch me! Don't walk near me! Don't you dare…"

Zuko stopped there, and let his hand fall to his side. He watched her cry as he shut his eyes himself as he remembered his youth, while he was still part of the Fire Nation.

Cries always filled the room his mother and his father shared, he had never understood, why his mother always came out with red eyes but refused to tell him anything while she continued to play with him.

"I'm sorry."

Katara looked up, tears staining her face. "Did you just say sorry to me?" she managed, as bile rose up her throat.

Zuko nodded as he watched her, unsure of what to do.

"It's not your fault," she said, forcing a weak smile onto her face.

Katara's face twisted strangely straight after she said that, as she leaned over to the side and choked out all the dinner they had had. Zuko recognized some of the meat he had caught, sloshing around in the blood mixed with saliva and vomit.

Katara leaned over, facing her vomit as the light from the moon reflected her face. Still undressed, her underclothes torn, part of her robe was stained as she simply closed her eyes and cried, letting her tears fall into the pool of vomit. _I am really a screw-up, _the neon red words ran in her head.

She felt a hand on her bare shoulder as she immediately turned to face the person in absolute fear. _No, not again, please, no!_

Her wide and fearful eyes closed as she felt a comforting, warm mouth placed against her lips. A hand caressed her face gently as Zuko slowly let go.

Katara stared at him, shock written all over her face. _Vomit was still on my mouth, _she realized as she looked at his lips, stained with the same thing she had retched up. _I hadn't even rinsed my mouth!_

Zuko did nothing, not even wipe his mouth as he stared at her.

"Come on, let's go back. The sun is beginning to rise."

Katara nodded numbly, her mind still in state of shock, as she put on her clothes hurriedly as she followed his form through the forest.

_What just happened? _She questioned herself as the vivid memories replayed through her head.

A blush ran down her cheek as she remembered the kiss.

_That was my first kiss. _

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**End of chapter. I hope you guys like this one guys, it's full of Zutara and they finally kiss! Haha why did our fav prince do that? Stay tuned for the next chapter. **

**(oh please now I sound like those irritating talk shows lol)**

**Don't forget to review, guys! **

**Myheartsafeather. **


	12. or more?

Zuko pushed a hand through the leaves, clearing a path for Katara and himself. His mind was in a whirl, his heart beating a fast pitter-pat, pitter-pat. He could feel her close presence following him carefully through the forest, her fear making her stick closely to him.

He felt his body temperature heat up as he remembered the kiss. At that time, it had seemed to be the right thing to do. Something strange had compelled himself to do his act of kindness, it was simply _as if Zuko of the Fire Nation was replaced with a clone of Zuko, the clone being kind, gentle, and loving,_ he mused.

Zuko pushed past the final bough of leaves that almost whacked him in the face and strode over to Aang, Sokka, and Iroh. They were still asleep as Katara and Zuko slipped in into their respective positions- Katara into her sleeping bag and Zuko onto thehard ground.

Katara watched her rescuer as he turned his back to her and curled up into a ball. _Apparently this was how he slept_, she mused.

She continued to watch him as she herself turned into bed, her mind wondering more and more about this certain teenager that hid himself under the blank mask he put up in front of others but could be so kind, and _gentle. _

Katara smiled to herself as she let herself drift of to sleep as she remembered the promise she had made to herself just a few hours ago.

_I'll get through to that stubborn prince somehow, __till he accepts that there are people willing to be his friend. _

_Or more?_ her heart asked.

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**end of chapter. extremely short because my time on the coin machine computer was up. sorry guys, will write more in future. Remember to review guys, thanks for everything.**

**Myheartsafeather**


	13. Haru

Sokka's eyes opened as he blinked at the bright sunlight, squinting at it as he got up from bed.

Yawning widely, he walked over to his sister. His eyes barely passed over her as he took a bowl of food from her. The nut was halfway to his mouth before he froze and did a double take.

"Katara? WHY IS THERE _BLOOD _ALL OVER YOUR DRESS?" he screamed.

Katara looked at him sheepishly, fiddling with her hair. "Er… I kind of tripped on my way when I was collecting the nuts…"

"Tripped so badly?"

"Yeah, over a tree root."

Sokka breathed a sigh of relief and started eating the nuts. "You had me scared there for a moment," he said in between bites. "I thought we were attacked or something."

Katara shrugged and gave him a half-grin. Aang woke up a few minutes later and Zuko, always the light sleeper, sprung up at Sokka's voice.

Zuko ate his nuts silently, listening to Aang chat excitedly.

"Your uncle sure sleeps late," Sokka said, casting a pointed look at Zuko.

Zuko showed no sign of having heard except pushing his uncle. Iroh awoke, rubbing his hands over his eyes. Within minutes, he was up and smiling, chomping on the nuts enthusiastically, settling on the grass beside Zuko.

Katara shot Zuko a furtive glance and then cleared her throat.

"Um…"

Zuko stared at her with a penetrative stare, and momentarily stopped eating. _Was she going to tell them about her getting raped?_

"I think Zuko and Iroh can take off their bracelets now, can't they? After all they haven't attacked us or taken off their bracelets."

The whole group was silent, with Aang staring at Katara confusedly. Then Sokka spluttered, choking out bits of his nut all over the place.

"No way! Not on my life!"

Iroh watched the rest with interest. The small movement of Katara's had not escaped his watchful eyes, and he sensed Zuko's body tensing when Katara spoke. Smiling inwardly, he himself was not very interested on the bracelet, and like the doting uncle he was, his mind immediately zeroed in on the possibilities of a _relationship._

Aang looked at Katara, asking her why. She fidgeted and mumbled, "Well, they haven't attacked us or anything, so I thought…"

Sokka interrupted her with a loud. "Just because they haven't attacked doesn't mean they won't! You are so naïve!"

Katara took offence at this and raised her voice "Well excuse me _Mister Smarty-pants, _but why can't _you_ see they won't hurt us?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Aang cut in, jumping between them, with his hands stretched out. "I agree with Katara, they really haven't tried anything, so, why not?" he said with a smile.

Katara gave Sokka a victory smirk and stood by Aang's side. Aang shot Sokka an apologetic grin as Sokka lifted his hand to his head and rubbed it in frustration.

"Oh, I GIVE UP ON YOU GUYS!" Sokka eventually said, stalking off to the woods.

Iroh got up slowly and smiled at Zuko. "Looks like we can finally continue training!"

------------------------

After Zuko and Iroh had finished their practice, and Sokka finally returned from the woods, in his hands more nuts, five of them set off on Appa again. Aang figured that they might as well travel on Appa since Azula was probably covering all the ground areas.

Iroh leaned back on Appa, taking this chance to talk to Katara whilst his nephew was sleeping in a corner.

"So, Katara, how have you been?"

Katara flinched in shock at his voice. "Oh! I'm fine, thanks."

"So how do you and my nephew get along?"

Katara avoided this question and stared ahead. "We get along fine, I guess." She finally stated, looking at Iroh briefly before staring at the clouds.

"Oh, my nephew is a very confusing man," Iroh said wisely. "He has been through a lot, you know."

"I know."

Iroh gave Katara a discerning look. "You do?"

"Azula told me."

"Azula," Iroh smiled. "I should have known."

Katara finally looked at Iroh full in the face. "She's horrible, really. I can't believe you and Zuko are related to her."

Iroh sighed. "Azula is one who likes to manipulate to achieve her goals… a very ambitious and somewhat ruthless girl."

"That's a major understatement," Katara muttered under her breath. Azula's mocking words still rang in her head, especially words like _pathetic, pitiful, failure and banishment._

Katara felt herself grow in curiosity just thinking about Zuko's banishment. Sure, Azula had said something about speaking up for the war, but what did he actually _do_?

"What did Zuko do to be banished from the Fire Nation?" Katara asked Iroh.

Iroh looked away, and Katara did not see the pain on his face. "You'll have to ask him yourself."

A great block of earth suddenly rose from the ground and formed a cliff in front of them, blocking Appa's way. Sokka gave a shout of surprise and Zuko promptly woke up. Aang stepped back in preparation and Katara and Iroh got ready for battle. The atmosphere was tense while all of them stared at the top of the cliff.

"Don't you guys remember me?" On top of the cliff sat an Earth-bender that looked familiar as Katara squinted at him.

"Haru!"

--------------------------

**end of chapter. **

**Please read and review! **

**Myheartsafeather. **


	14. Confessions

Katara followed Haru as he moved through his house, explaining that after he and his father boarded the ship that left the Fire Nation, they had stopped at the an Earth Kingdom town after witnessing countless of battles.

Entrusting the other earth benders to continue the resistance against the Fire Nation, they had settled down into their home, bringing their mother from their old home to stay with them here.

After they had settled down, Haru's father had died of old age, making Haru the head of the house.

Haru had already agreed to teach Aang earth bending. (Aang was seriously relieved; he was secretly anxious about the near-arriving comet.) Zuko, Iroh, Sokka, Katara and Aang would reside in his home

Showing them their rooms, he explained that Zuko and Iroh would share a room, Aang and Sokka would share a room and Katara would have a personal room.

Katara nodded as she was shown her room, the last one of the passageway. Putting down her stuff, she looked up, surprised, when Haru's voice came from the doorway (he hadn't left yet?)

"Hey Katara, do you want to go out for a walk with me?"

"Sure. Now?" she replied, wondering why he wanted to walk with her.

Katara walked out of the room and fell in step beside Haru as he led her out of the house.

--------------------

Zuko lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling. His uncle Iroh had left a few minutes after entering their room, citing that he "needed a walk and some fresh air".

He clenched his hand in frustration. Only until the earth-bender- Haru, he said he was called, had appeared and gave them hospitality, did he realize that he had not thought of a plan to capture the Avatar.

You see, what he didn't get was that he hadn't immediately thought of escaping when they released from him his bonds of the bracelet.

Secretly Zuko worried that he was losing himself, his focus, and if he was worried. _If I hadn't remembered of my mission, I might have lost my honour… for good. _

Zuko ran his hands over his broadswords as he thought of plans.

---------------------------

Iroh took a walk around the beautiful park full of greenery he had seen on his way in. Swinging his arms around, he reveled in the fresh air.

From what Aang told him, Haru happened to be an old friend of theirs. Someone who seemed to take an inherent interest in Katara.

Iroh sighed. He had hoped that Katara would be able to change his nephew, and release the Zuko he knew was hiding under a shell. The real Zuko that was alive right up to his banishment.

Sighing again, a sudden sight caught his eye. Katara and Haru were taking a walk in the park, and they seemed to be talking animatedly.

Out of pure curiosity, Iroh neared them and fell behind them as he eavesdropped on their conversation, moving quickly and silently behind them, occasionally dodging behind bushes when they made a suspicious movement.

"Do you miss your father?"

"I do. But when he died, he told me that I had to take good care of my mother, his wife, and to do my best for the people. I'm now fulfilling his first wish and I reckon by teaching Aang earth bending I'm helping the people."

Haru laughed. "Indirectly."

Katara nodded and smiled as she stared at her surroundings, taking in the fine scenery, finally saying,

"This place is beautiful."

"Yes, it is." _Much like you, Katara. _

Haru took a deep breath before turning to Katara, staring at her face. She looked at him, confused, waiting for him to say something.

Iroh immediately ducked when Haru stopped at turned to Katara. Through the bushes, he peeped at them, straining to hear what they were saying. _Oh come on, stop staring at each other, _he jiggled his foot furiously. _Hurry up; the thorns are pricking my face!_

"Katara, I need to tell you something."

She looked at him, concerned, her cerulean blue eyes examining his deep green ones.

"I like you."

Katara stared at him, her mouth falling slightly open.

"-and I was wondering, if I could court you," the words came out in a babble as a light blush spread across Haru's face.

_Oh, no! _Iroh thought dismally as he watched them. _Now who's going to work on my 12 grandchildren?_

Katara continued staring at Haru, while Haru face dropped to the ground, barely hiding the disappointment on his face.

"It's okay if you don't want to," he said softly.

Katara stared at him, _say something, girl! _-her mind screamed. Finally, she blurted out "I'm so sorry Haru I didn't mean it like that, I just would like- she sucked in a deep breath- some time to think."

Haru nodded and left her standing there in the middle of the park.

Katara stared after his retreating back and spun around when she saw the smiling face of Iroh approaching her.

"Hello!" he said brightly.

Katara narrowed her eyes at him. "You heard that, didn't you?" she accused him.

"Well- yes."

"The whole thing?" Katara almost screamed, but managed the control her voice- what if Haru heard?

"Um…"

Katara glared at him for a moment before saying with gritted teeth

"Don't you dare tell anyone."

Iroh nodded sheepishly as she stomped away in the direction of Haru's house. "At least Zuko didn't hear it!" he called after her.

Katara's head twitched in a blink of an eye and she seemed to slow down for a moment but then she didn't look back and continued her way, pushing apart a loving couple walking on the pathway who looked at her with a look of surprise mingled with resentment.

At the couple shooting Iroh suspicious looks, Iroh finally mumbled, under his breath, towards the couple, "maybe it's that time of the month."

---------------------

The dinner affair was a pathetic one- Zuko remained silent and moody while Haru and Katara shot each other looks across the table when they each thought the other wasn't looking and blushing when their eyes met.

Sokka was being his usual self and Aang was giving Haru and Katara suspicious looks. Haru's mother was smiling happily to herself through the entire main course and when asked, she said nothing but smiled.

And she was exceptionally nice to Katara.

Iroh himself was too trying to break the mood, but nothing seemed to help. He had brought up everything under the sun, from playing the Sungi horn and his secret Pai-Sho tactics.

Thankfully, the dessert course was soon over and all of them left hurriedly to their own destinations.

Katara moved to her bedroom, and lay in her bed thinking until there was a knock on her bedroom door.

Sighing, she moved forward to open it. Standing in front of her stood her brother. "Katara I want to talk to you," he said, walking into her bedroom.

"Okay…….." Katara said, giving her brother an impatient look.

"Haru told me about him asking you out."

Katara gritted her teeth. "Urgh!" she managed, in reply to her brother's statement while a blush crept up her face. _Why did he have to mention this of all things, great gods please kill me now….this is my **brother** we're talking about!_

"And I think it would be alright if you went out with him, I mean I wouldn't mind."

Katara cocked an eye at her brother. Sokka exhaled, finally saying,

"I mean I give my permission."

Katara rolled her eyes at her brother. "Like I even needed your permission in the first place."

Sokka looked at her seriously instead of him rebutting her, like she expected. "So are you going to accept him?" he asked.

Katara shrugged, pushing Sokka to the door. "I don't know yet."

"Wait-"

The door slammed while Katara breathed a sigh of relief. She missed the light-hearted arguments she and her brother shared, now to be replaced by questions on relationships.

Her hands wrapped over her necklace as she leaned against the wall, sitting on her bed.

I don't know why I acted like that in the park- Haru is so nice, and he and I have always kind of had a special relationship.

_My heart really did seem to stop at that moment, because of excitement or anxiety I don't know. _

_But if I had really liked him all along- wouldn't I have kept thinking of him even after I left him and continued traveling with Aang and Sokka?_

_And then Zuko? What do I think about him? _

Katara groaned as she wrapped her hand tightly over her mother's necklace. _Help me mom- I don't know what to do! _

-------------------------------

**End of chapter. **

**This one was kind of humorous, in a way I liked it for Iroh was very nice. In case some of you are wondering why Zuko is back to his old self, it's because I reviewed everything I'd written and concluded I'd made Zuko too soft. The confliction within his soul should show out more. Okay… that's it guys, I hope you've liked this chapter and please review. **

**Myheartsafeather**


	15. Decisions

Bright stars canvassed on the dark night as a teenaged boy looked out of the window.

Standing up, he pushed open the door of his room, careful not to wake his sleeping companion. Slipping quietly into the passageway, he tensed as he heard a crack.

Listening intently, he only relaxed a few minutes later when a cricked hopped away in front of him.

Pausing in front of a wooden door, he pushed it open quietly, careful to avoid any creaking. Slipping delicately inside, he shut the door softly. His whole body tense, he neared the two bunk beds in a corner. A long coil of rope curled up at his side, like a pet serpent.

His hands by his side flickered with flame, igniting the dark night. He stared over the body of a boy sleeping peacefully in the bed.

Hovering over him, and finally, almost reluctantly, he brought the flames over him.

He moved to strike.

Aang's head shot up immediately.

His attacker shrank back, diminishing the flames in his hands. He backed away slowly, holding his breath, not daring to look behind him as he backed to the door.

Aang's eyes were closed and he was muttering to himself, incoherent babblings.

His kidnapper inched to the door. Steps away.. inches away….

His fist closed over the doorknob and he turned to face the door, only his body suddenly shot upright by a voice in the darkness.

"What are you doing here?" Aang asked Zuko, his voice incredulous.

_Oh, shit. _

"Sleepwalking," he eventually forced out. His knuckles were white as he clutched the doorknob tightly.

"Oh," Aang said, his face clearing up. "I had a nightmare too."

Zuko nodded and quickly pulled the door open out of Aang's room.

"Well, good ni-"

The door closed and Zuko leant against it, his head against the cold hard wood.

Aang fell back to sleep, only noticing the out-of-shape doorknob the next day.

------------------

The night broke to early morning. A girl dressed in simple peasant clothing walked out of the house, to the park where she had last seen a head of brown hair disappear into.

Catching up with him, she stood behind him for a moment simply enjoying the sunset. She placed a hand on his shoulder and he spun around.

"Katara!"

She nodded and smiled. Haru looked at her, and after a pregnant pause, leant in and whispered

"Did you decide?"

She nodded. His eyes asked the burning question as he waited.

"Yes, I will." She whispered softly, so softly that only him and her heard.

His face broke into a wide, ear-to-ear grin as pure euphoria and joy filled his face. She blushed, a crimson red on her cheeks as she felt his presence nearer and nearer her.

Before she knew it, their heads were angled together. Their heads bumped as both of them blushed furiously and finally, then, their lips locked into a sweet kiss.

----------------------

Azula's hard, flinty eyes glared daggers at the tree she had just demolished with fire.

She stepped closer and closer to the trees in the forest, aiming punches to every one of them.

"Stupid"

The tree burst into flames

"Waste of time"

Another one burst into flames

She sent a lightning bolt to the final tree as it frizzled and turned charred.

They had not managed to capture the Avatar or Zuko though traveling for a few days. And they had to stop at this foolish excuse of a town to replenish supplies.

Azula stepped away from her training area leaving clumps of trees burnt down to stumps.

----------------------------

Katara's hand was entwined with Haru's as they walked through the same park, enjoying each other's company after breakfast.

Breakfast itself was a strange affair. Her brother, upon seeing them enter, immediately fixed his eyes onto their enclosed hands and burst into a big grin.

"Take good care of her, man," he said, slapping Haru's arm as they settled next to him on the breakfast table.

Aang had remained silent throughout the entire lively breakfast (Iroh and Sokka were back to their old selves), picking at his breakfast.

Twice Katara asked him why he wasn't eating and he merely shook his head and snapped back at her. Surprised, she hadn't said anything.

Zuko's eyes had fixed on their entwined hands the moment they had entered. An uncomfortable tingle had raced through her spine as his intense golden eyes surveyed them.

Absolutely nothing was on his face as he turned to look at his porridge, eating it mechanically.

_Fire and water don't mix. And I somehow doubt he's even my friend, _she thought.

"A penny for what you're thinking," Haru's voice echoed through her head as she looked up, smiling at his face.

"Nothing much."

He nodded as they walked to a cliff, both of them sitting down on the edge, on the grass, enjoying the breeze.

Earlier that morning, when she had woken up, it was because of the memory of her rapers. Even in her room and with the heat from the sun going to rise, she had never felt so cold in her life.

In her dream, her mind had relieved every horrid, vivid detail. The vomit, the ripping of clothes.

Katara shivered. She never wanted to feel so helpless, never in her life ever again. She snuggled closer to Haru and he placed an arm over her.

_Never so helpless, never again. _

-------------------------

**end of chapter. Dracori's agreed to be my beta-reader so you guys can look forward to better quality work in future! Don't forget to review . Katara's decision was quite a shock one, even for me. **

**Myheartsafeather. **


	16. Finally

Zuko walked down the corridor of rooms, planning to go out for some personal firebending practice.

Katara and Haru seemed to have just gotten back from their walk outside, and Zuko completely avoided her eyes as he stared ahead.

Guilty thoughts pricked his head as he brushed past them, his arm brushing lightly on Katara's sleeve. Zuko mentally shook himself out of them. _I can't like her, not at all. _

He had only walked a few steps past them before he felt an awful pain grip his stomach. From his pelvis, it shot up, to his hip and up his spine. His body contorted as he gripped his stomach, letting out a cry of pain as Katara spun around and stared in horror.

The second pain was worse and more intense than the last, rushing up, consuming him. Zuko gritted his teeth and braced the pain, with tears pricking his eyes.

His fists were clenched so tightly; his clipped-to-the-skin fingernails were piercing his skin. Only looking up at the last moment, he saw the girl. Katara bent over his twisted body on the ground, her face filled with concern as he looked up at her and saw Haru in the background.

_The earth bender… what's his name? __Oh yes, Haru. _

And that was his last thought as they dimmed, blurred into the surroundings as he felt himself hurling towards emptiness.

Falling… 

------------------

Katara backed away from Zuko as a fire wrapped around him in a tight circle. He was no longer on the ground, instead he was up in the air, and in his eyes was a fierce look, his face in a snarl, as if he was fighting.

"Katara! Don't go near him!" She heard Haru shout out urgently, as she never let her eyes waver from Zuko.

She reached out to the fire that enveloped Zuko. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sokka and Aang arriving, alerted by the sounds of Haru's voice. And then she saw Sokka do a double take and Aang gasp, dimly.

Iroh's voice came out suddenly, but she didn't really hear it, only dimly, as her finger touched the fire.

"Ouch!" Katara muttered, as she jumped back, examining her burnt finger.

"Agni is the god of Fire and he rules over the Fire Nation. He is speaking to Zuko now, and this is what happens when he is interrupted." Iroh's voice came clearly now, as Katara, jolted by the pain that rocked through her when she received the electrifying shot, looked at Iroh.

"Is Zuko in any danger?" Haru asked, as he came up and stood next to Katara.

"No. I don't think so." Iroh said, pausing, and watching.

Katara felt Haru nudge her slightly. "Come on, Katara," he said, leading her by the arm away from Zuko.

She tore her gaze away from Zuko, and looked at Haru. "His uncle will take care of him." He whispered into her ear.

Katara nodded dimly, as she let Haru bring her away.

At the door of her room, she turned to look again. Zuko, still encircled by fire, and his uncle was standing there, waiting.

Katara dropped her last look and walked into her room.

------------------------

Just as suddenly as he felt the feelings of nausea threatening to overwhelm him as he tumbled, twisted, through the swirling dark vortex, he was righted, brought to his feet to stare into the eyes of the God of Fire.

Zuko stumbled, but forced himself to look at the eyes of Agni. Flames licked the dark, rimless eyes of the dragon.

"Welcome." A deep rumbling voice, coming straight from the bowels of his stomach, filled the empty, dark vortex still spinning around them.

"I am Agni." He continued, flicking his tail and injecting a spark to it. Fire flamed at the tail.

Zuko stared at his eyes, large, dank and dark, with only the fire burning inside that gave it it's spark.

Agni himself seemed to glow; each scale of his emanated a fiery light. The hair running through his body was jet black. With only the black part of his eyes and his hair contrasting against the orange/ red scales, he looked a formidable sight.

_He is true royalty, _Zuko thought as he slowly got down into a bow. He bent his head at the dragon in front of him.

"There's no need to do that," Agni said impatiently, flicking his tail once again.

"Get up, I've got many things to tell you."

"Why have you brought me here?"

Agni stared straight at his kindred spirit. "We- the other gods of the elements- we need you to stop this war."

Zuko's eyes widened in surprise. "For many years Fire Nation was waged war against the other Nations. Plenty of suffering was brought onto the people." Agni said, looking at Zuko.

"The Fire Lord, Souzen who started the war was a second-born son on the past Fire Lord. Just like Ozai," Agni said, his voice calm, regal, in control.

"The Fire Nation's interest has never been to attack. We want peace too. Zuko, you are the first-born son on the Fire Lord. You must kill the present Fire Lord to restore balance."

Zuko stared at Agni, and when he spoke, it was barely a whisper. "That's my father."

Agni nodded, his eyes burning ferociously. "I know. You must work with the Avatar to restore balance… but it is not the Avatar who must kill the Fire Lord… it must be a true son of the Nation who does it, Fire to destroy Fire."

Zuko did not move, inside his mind he was running through every image of his youth: his father attacking his grandfather, his mother beaten, Azula's mocking voices, the day when he got his knife, the sheen on it when it reflected the words _Never give up without a fight. _

_Never give up without a fight. _

Agni looked at Zuko, and chortled slightly, remembering the time Zuko had kissed the waterbender. Up in the skies, hidden by the clouds, he had laughed unrestrained with Shasha, the water goddess. "You and the girl make a pretty good match." He remarked.

Zuko looked at him. "What girl?"

"The waterbender." Agni said, and a smile, unwittingly, escaped from his lips.

Zuko's voice cold, "She's a peasant and I am a prince. We will never get along."

Agni looked at Zuko. "We are not as different from them as you think we are, you know."

"We are. We're the Fire Nation."

Agni's voice was perfectly neutral. _He could change between emotions so fast, _Zuko thought, as Agni cocked his head at him. "We all want peace, Zuko."

"Don't we?" his voice now held a little of a challenge. _The fire, the Agni Kai, the battle. _

_Her scars, _Zuko thought, Song suddenly appearing into his mind. The girl, who wanted to reach out to him, but would never know.

Agni watched Zuko carefully. Only a pregnant pause later, would Zuko raise his head, and Agni saw the truth in his eyes. _He is too proud to say what he feels, but we can tell, Zuko, we always can._

Agni moved closer to Zuko. "All second-born sons of Fire do not have the spirit of Fire in them," he said this time, his voice softer and more compassionate.

"The first-born sons do."

_Ozai, Souzen, all second-born, so much ambition. _

"What is the spirit of Fire?"

Agni laughed. The strange, grating pain ripped into Zuko's stomach once again, as he clutched it, Agni's laughter blurring and echoing in his ears.

"Zuko, the spirit of Fire is me." These final words echoed in the vortex as once again, Zuko found he spinning, falling, dizzy, through nothingness.

-----------

Iroh's head snapped up as he saw the fire encircling Zuko die down into nothingness. Zuko, no more lifted by the fire, fell to the floor with a thud.

Iroh rushed over to his nephew. "Zuko, how are you?"

Zuko stared up at his uncle's concerned face and could only think of one thing to say. "Uncle, I'm on their side now."

"Whose side?"

"The Avatar's."

Iroh smiled, one that showed relief. "His name is Aang, son." Iroh said as he helped Zuko up.

Zuko nodded as his uncle walked beside him, both of them towards their room.

"Agni told you that?" Iroh asked.

"Yes."

"So that means I'll probably have to be teaching you the advanced set."

"Most definitely, Uncle, most definitely." Zuko said, his voice becoming warmer, and a smile crept up on his face. A warm feeling came from his heart, maybe it was the uncertain relief that he had got through all the pain of talking to Agni alive, or maybe it was just he. "You've said that fire is from the breath a million times, it is about time."

Iroh laughed out loud, his hearty laugh resounding through the passageway as he clapped Zuko's back. "I know."

-------------------

The sun set in the background, and two men bowed to each other to signal the end of the fight and walked away. Zuko wiped the sweat off his brow as he jogged into the house, tired after an intense firebending practice from his uncle.

Still in his vest, he spotted Aang sitting in the kitchen table, alone, staring someplace else as he ate some hard biscuits.

_I've got to tell him that I'm on his side now, _Zuko thought, walked over to Aang and stood in front of him. "I need to talk to you."

Aang looked up. "Sure." He said, brushing the crumbs away, and shaking his head out of his daydreams as Zuko sat down in the chair, facing him.

"I'm on your side now, in the battle that's about to come. I'll fight for my throne."

Aang smiled, an ear-to-ear grin. "I'm glad. Did Agni tell you that?"

"Yes," Zuko said.

"You've been chasing us for so long, it is such a relief to know that. Were you really sleepwalking in my room that night?"

Zuko hesitated. "If you must know, I wasn't really."

"I knew it. The black suit was rather obvious. But it's already over, so let's just forget about it." Aang said, smiling as he dismissed the whole thing with a wave of his hand.

Zuko marveled at the way Aang, the boy who always seemed so happy, could forgive and forget so easily. He could have killed him that night, and Aang knew it, but he stilldismissed the whole thing like it never happened.

"Thank you."

"Katara and Sokka will be happy to know about this, too."

Zuko merely nodded as he examined Aang's face. Aang showed nothing but true joy at Zuko's news,but something passed over his face when he mentioned Katara.

A momentary silence fell over them as Zuko looked down at the table, thinking, _well, I've finished what I wanted to say, so maybe I'll go now-_

"Zuko, have you ever heard of a saying that if you really love someone you'd let them go?"

Aang's voice that cut into his thoughts suddenly gave Zuko a shock. "I think my uncle's said that once," Zuko said, watching Aang closely.

"Yeah, Iroh was the one who told me that. I guess I'm going to let Katara go now."

"I had noticed that you, well, had a crush on her."

Aang nodded. "I need someone to talk to now anyway."

He stared far away. "I really like Katara, but I'll let her go, for Haru," his voice was wistful.

"Can you really do that?" Zuko asked, his eyes examining Aang as he waited for the answer.

"I guess, if you really love someone,

you'd let them go."

Aang stated as his voice, carrying finality as he turned back to Zuko.

_I'd let her go._

A small smile, a genuine one, appeared on the scarred teenager's face for a brief moment and then it was gone.

"Aang, on that question you asked me in the forest that day when you saved me from the Yuuyan archers, I think the answer is yes."

Zuko left the kitchen, moving quickly towards his room. Aang stared at the retreating back of the prince, and then a small smile, appeared on his face. _We're finally friends. _

----------------------------------

Katara leaned against her bed as she reviewed the past day's happenings. Night had come already, and it was full moon tonight as Katara thought.

_Dinner was strange, just like yesterdays. Yesterday seems so far away, especially with so much happening today. Agni talking to Zuko, me and Haru going into the Earth Kingdom Town to buy supplies._

_Aang, Zuko, Iroh and Harutalked together the entire dinner, like old friends, talking about everything, and anything. __Sokka just looked shellshocked , but eventually he got caught up in their conversation, and I think he's not as suspicious of Zuko as he used to be. _

_Somehow they're all friends now, and Zuko, he's different after the Fire God spoke to him. I even caught Zuko talking and laughing with the others. _

_I guess he's already opened up to other people, so I don't need to try to break open his shell anymore. Somehow, I'm kind of sad about this, while I should be happy. Aang and Zuko, both from different worlds, finally friends. _

_In the Earth Kingdom Town today, Haru showed me the stores, and bought me a necklace, a silver chain with a red pendant. I was so happy to receive it, but I didn't put it on. I would never take off my mother's necklace, and when Haru asked me why I didn't put it on and I told him so, something wildly menacing and disappointing crossed his face, and in an instant, it disappeared just as soon as it appeared. For a moment, I felt afraid. _

_He brought me to eat, but I wasn't as comfortable anymore. Something had changed, it was in me, I think. _

_The kiss when I had agreed to date Haru, it was sweet. Cute, like what I'd always dreamed of doing. But something seemed wrong, I don't know. _

_The thing is, if you have to try to love, are you really in love?_

Shaking her head, tired of her contradicting thoughts, Katara got up and slipped into her bed, letting the blanket cover her as she turned over, facing the door, as her mind searched for answers for the unsettling uncomfortable feeling she could feel deep in her bones.

Finally, she simply closed her eyes and willed sleep to come to her.

Truth is, her first kiss would always be better than her second, third, or hundredth.

**------------------------------**

**End of chapter. **

**This chapter goes out to Jen and Florence. Thank you.**


	17. Only You

Thanks to Aang's natural aptitude in bending, Haru proclaimed his Earth-bending master after a week of intensive training. Aang's anxiety of the near-arriving comet heightened his sense of urgency, and thus his "fooling around," so called by Sokka, stopped temporarily, as Aang focused completely on his earth-ending practice.

_It was kind of weird, Aang not his chirpy self for a while, _Katara mused. _But I suppose he is maturing._

Zuko himself was back to his moody, driven self, completely absorbed in fire-bending practice, only he was less snappy to the people around him, but he mostly stayed away from the rest, preferring to keep either to himself or with his uncle.

Haru and her relationship had kind of deadened down to the point, which they were more of friends, and nothing was so special anymore. It was strange, and Katara wondered how long this would drag.

"So I was saying, I think we should come in and attack the Fire Nation from the near on the next…" Sokka rambled on, jabbing points on a map furiously.

Katara sighed as she leaned back in her chair, her brother's voice droning on and on in the background.

The kitchen table was littered with maps, scrolls, and pens, as Zuko, Haru, Iroh, Sokka, Katara and Aang discussed what they were going to do since Aang had already mastered the 4 elements. How were they going to defeat the Fire Nation?

The discussion had been going on for about a whole half hour, and Katara was completely bored out of her skull at all the war jargon. _Blah, Blah, Blahbitty, Blah…_

"Katara! I've called you three times!"

"Huh?" Katara looked up at Sokka's indignant face as she stopped fiddling with her nails.

Ignoring his outraged face, she asked politely, "What was your question?"

"I _said, _don't you agree with me that my way is the way to defeat the Fire Nation?"

"Well… I…err…" Katara rambled on, hoping someone would come in and rescue her- she had no idea what Sokka's "way" was.

"I think we should adopt Haru's idea of sending messages to all the benders or fighters to meet. Perhaps in Ba Sing Sei, to fight the war?" Aang put in quickly.

Katara sent Aang a grateful look as Sokka got absorbed into an argument with him, safely releasing Katara out of her predicament.

"It would be good, if we attacked on next Wednesday, as the comet will arrive on Friday, the last day of the month. This way, we can recover our losses and still manage to stop the comet." Zuko put in, addressing Aang.

"Yes, that's good." Aang said to Zuko. Looking at the rest, he nodded happily. "It's decided. I'll send messages to all the benders and fighters to meet in Ba Sing Sei to prepare for war and they should have sufficient time to get to Ba Sing Sei."

Zuko nodded and got up. "I'll write the letter to the Fire Nation, they won't stop us, if not it will not be fair fight."

Katara breathed a sigh of relief, as she pushed her chair back, and got out of the stuffy room. Slipping outside, she heard someone calling her name as she turned to look back.

"Katara, can I talk to you for a while?" Haru asked as he came up to her.

She nodded and they walked into the city. "What?" she asked.

"The past few days have been really great, but…" Haru began nervously, after a pause

_He's going to break up with me_

"…but I really think we should just be friends, you know?"

_The special feeling was gone._

"I agree with you," Katara said, and a look of pure relief was on Haru's face. "Still friends, right?" he asked again.

Katara nodded as they parted with a hug. _Surprisingly, that didn't hurt as much as I thought it would. I didn't even feel anything; just that I knew it was going to happen. _

_No big deal. _

--------------------------

Aang landed on Kyoshi Island, speaking briefly to the leaders and the people before leaving for his next destination. Appa, combined with his air bending, made him go fast, arriving at all the known towns he had traveled past, and taking care to mention to everyone of them that they should tell any neighboring villages too.

And now, he was carrying the letter that Zuko had written, and bringing it to Fire Lord Ozai, the most powerful man of the world. Alighting at the Fire Nation palace, he powered an air ball to the front gate guards. Placing the sealed envelope to a guard, he spoke directly to the guard, telling him to send the message to Ozai, leaving before they could attack and capture him.

Aang landed Appa a distance away as he flew on his glider back to the palace. Reaching it, he slipped through the window, and followed the guard sending the letter.

The guard requested a direct audience with Ozai and presented the letter in front of him as Aang watched, with bated breath, as Ozai took the letter with a sneer and frown, his face progressively getting uglier as he read the letter.

_To The Fire Lord Ozai;_

_We, the Nations of the elements Water and Earth, bring message of war. We challenge you to a fair fight for freedom of the people and expect war on the next Wednesday, early morning, where we will bring our troops to the Fire Nation. Informing you of this war is honor on our part, as we do not attack our opponents when their back is turned. As such, we expect you to keep the honor in which this letter was sent with, or risk being seen as dishonorable, throughout the Nations and your people. _

_Best Regards, _

_The Avatar. _

Ozai crumpled the message, black ink on red paper, into a ball as he snarled; the fire that flamed furiously in front of him grew in size as the guard, the messenger, trembled as he kneeled on the cold hard floor.

The shadow of Ozai's face could be seen, and when he spoke, a low, menacing voice rang out. "Bring pen and paper and write down what I dictate."

The guard nodded, his head bobbing up and down like a top spinning as he rushed to grab an ink brush and paper, as Ozai's face, that could never be seen, spoke out as the guard wrote.

Aang moved from his position at the door, and quietly moved to the window, took his glider, and flew back to Appa, setting course for the Earth Kingdom town they were residing in.

----------------------------------

That night, dinner was a somber affair punctuated with intense war strategies discussed through the men as Katara listened, forcing herself not to grow tired as she paid attention, taking in every note they made of war soon coming. She wanted to be ready, to be prepared for everything they were going to face.

"There's no way we can trick through them, the only way to beat them is through fair, dogged battle…"

"We can create a distraction while Zuko reaches Ozai, to stop the troops, Ozai doesn't know about him…."

"My brother is a smart man… I wouldn't doubt that he has some tricks up his sleeve…"

After dinner, Katara practiced some waterbending when the moon was out, bending water from her flask, creating beautiful swirls and shapes before heading to the toilet. In the dark, the lights were not turned on as Katara made her way through the passageway, moving towards the toilet.

"Oof!" Katara said in shock as she collided with someone in the passageway, stumbling backwards a bit.

Her eyes adjusted as she glanced up, into the fiery yellow eyes of Zuko, and she couldn't help it, she felt herself getting lost in those eyes that examined her. The toilet was a merely step away, and as she could see, he had just come out of it.

"Sorry," she muttered as she pushed past him, and stepped into the toilet, shutting the door.

_What does he think of me?_ She thought as she lowered herself into the toilet seat.

Why is he always so silent? Sure, he's been better nowadays, but he didn't say anything when I bumped into him….

Katara's face steadily got redder as a thought ran through her head. _This is the same toilet seat he just sat on._

Forcing herself to stop blushing, she flushed and walked towards her room.

------------------------------

The next morning, Iroh stood and watched while his nephew, Zuko, performed the last set of firebending to perfection.

"Good, nephew, your progress has been magnificent. Tomorrow we shall continue training."

Zuko nodded, perspiration running down his face in rivulets as he walked towards his uncle, both of them walking in silence towards the house. That night, they would be leaving, with Haru and his townspeople, towards Ba Sing Sei where they would have the weekend, as well as Monday and Tuesday to prepare.

The silence was broken, when Iroh spoke up. "Zuko, what do you think of the girl?"

Zuko tensed slightly, remembering the incident in the passageway the previous night. "She's already with Haru," he said.

"They broke up, Katara told me," Iroh said cautiously. "So are you saying that you would want to be with her if she wasn't with Haru?"

"No, I am not," Zuko began, and anyone near the two of them could feel the rising heat around them, no doubt caused by Zuko's reaction.

"She is a waterbender, and I am the Prince. We will never get along."

"We are not as different from them as you think we are, you know," Iroh said.

Zuko balked. _That was exactly what Agni said!_

"Here we are now, and we will be going to war soon, together, with waterbenders and earthbenders. How different are we from them?" Iroh asked.

"We're the Fire Nation, Uncle! How different can you get, already?"

"The Fire Nation, which part? The squalor we saw in Omashu? Azula? Do you remember Katara beating you with her waterbending?" Iroh pressed.

"That was in the North Pole-"

"She still beat you. Our element is not superior, it is equal. Did Agni not tell you this?"

_Well- yes. _Zuko gritted his teeth. Of all the things, it was certainly infuriating for him to be beaten by his uncle. _Uncle is the first-born son of Azulon, _Zuko realized. _Is the spirit of Agni in him too?_

The question was in his mind, on the tip of his tongue, and he was going to ask- _did Agni talk to him? -_ When Iroh spoke again, this time with humor.

"Katara has plenty of character, doesn't she?"

Zuko merely grunted.

"What would you do if you were together?" _Come on Zuko, I've seen the barely passed glances, the tension, and she's showed much kindness to you, more than she normally does, and you don't reciprocate, but I can tell, you like her._

"Uncle!" Zuko roared. "How many times do I have to repeat it? She's a peasant, and I'm a prince. We are from two different worlds."

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Zuko knew they were lies. Katara had told him herself, her mother, killed by the Fire Nation, the fear, always there. But he couldn't very well tell his uncle that, could he?

"But you like her, don't you?" Iroh gave Zuko a discerning look. "Don't you?"

A 'no' was on Zuko's mind, he wanted to speak out, but he knew it. Iroh was right. His heart, deep inside him, he knew that 'no' was lying. And so he simply stayed silent.

Iroh took his silence as a yes and he continued, "Zuko, you must take a chance before it is too late, she is one special girl, one in a million."

_But-_

"If you do not take this chance, it may be too late."

_She's-_

"And anyway, a Fire Lord needs a wife."

_She doesn't like me_

"Who's going to work on my 12 grandchildren?"

_What can I do?_

"What can I do?" Zuko finally spat out. He couldn't believe himself, asking his uncle on love advice- oh, this was so embarrassing.

"Just tell her so. Take a chance, you'll never know."

"What if…" Zuko began, not daring to continue as his face turned a beetroot red.

As if sensing his discomfort, Iroh said, "What if you don't try? Then you wouldn't know, would you?"

Zuko remained silent and he opened the door of Haru's house, walking through it. His mind was whirling, a mass tornado of confusion. He was 17 already, yet unlike many of his peers he had never had a sweetheart.

"Zuko, just try. It will be fine." Iroh said, placing a hand on his nephew's strong shoulders as Zuko stared at the ground, eventually leaving for their room.

Once he made sure Zuko had completely disappeared into his room, Iroh burst out laughing, and with utmost difficulty controlled it so that it wasn't too loud. Just the thought of his nephew finally growing up and getting a girlfriend, being more _normal, _gave him a sense of satisfaction.

-------------------------------

Katara bended the water gracefully, spirals of water twirling as her hands, deft and small, controlled them easily. Completely focused on her waterbending, she had not noticed the sun going down, and dinner was about to be served.

After lunch, Iroh had spoke to her, and the conversation still confused Katara.

_"My nephew is one who is determined to succeed, to regain what he lost and he rarely ever wavers from his goals. Now, he is on our side to fight his country, but only because Ozai has not been ruling his people correctly."_

"_Zuko is not always so silent, you know, he has a different side to him too, which I think you can uncover…"_

She moved the water from her hands, and bended them back into the small flask by her side, capping it and moving back towards the house.

A small movement caught her attention, at the corner of her eye, as she turned to look, peering through the shrubbery.

Zuko was practicing his firebending, fire coming from his hands, as he balanced himself on one hand, firebending as Katara admired his mastery of the element.

Pushing through the leaves, she walked towards him. "That was good, you know," she said, facing his back.

He turned around in surprise and looked at Katara, letting the fire die in his hands. Katara felt herself grow a bit uncomfortable as he stared at her, and she demurely stared at the ground. _What is he going to say?_

"Do you want to take a walk with me?" the words came out slightly hesitantly, as Katara balked. _This was certainly not what I expected him to say… _"Sure."

Katara and Zuko walked, moving towards the opposite direction of Haru's house, as they walked through the park. Zuko was about a head taller than her, and when her arm brushed across his strong one, she blushed slightly at the contact and drew away. There was something magnetic about his mere presence, and strangely, Katara felt herself wanting to feel the skin contact again, his warm skin against hers.

In silence, they walked, going further and further into the park until the silence was finally broken when Zuko spoke out.

"Do you remember the time we were in the prison, and you told me about your mother's death?"

Why this, all of a sudden? 

"Yes, I remember."

"About your mother being burned at the stake."

Katara bit her lower lip, bit it so hard a tiny trickle of blood appeared. "Yes?"

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault."

In a flash, she remembered the last time she had said those words, _it's not your fault, _in the forest, the unhappy events, and the vomit.

"How…." She blurted out, before stopping herself.

Zuko turned to look at her. "What?"

"_Zuko is not always so silent, you know, he has a different side to him too, which I think you can uncover…"_

"What did you defend the 46th regiment from?"

How did you get that scar? The unheard question rested in the air. 

There was a pregnant pause, as Katara felt Zuko stiffen up beside her, before replying, slowly, and he said it so quietly, Katara strained to hear it in the background of happy birds chirping.

"The commander in the meeting room wanted to sacrifice an entire regiment, the young and inexperienced warriors, to the Earth Kingdom attack as a distraction. I spoke out against it, and was challenged to an Agni Kai by the commander, but I didn't know I was supposed to fight-"

"My father," Zuko continued, after swallowing bile rising up his throat.

Katara stared at Zuko, and he turned, for a brief moment to meet her eyes as yellow and blue, the intense colors of the palette connected, and Katara felt the burning desire to reach out, to help, and to say _it's not your fault._

"My father said I had shown weakness in refusing to fight, and he banished me to search for the Avatar."

Zuko ground his teeth together as he forced the words out, as his mind relieved every vivid detail. And also there in the background, Katara trying to reach out to him while her efforts were always met with stoned silence.

"Azula has never liked me, and I suppose this is why she told you about it."

Katara listened, as Zuko explained, and she could tell it was taking every ounce of his very person to tell her, to revisit the shame.

With a jolt, she recalled the whisper in her ear the day she stole the waterbending scroll.

Try to understand, I need to regain my honor.

"You never lost your honor, Zuko," Katara said, as she faced Zuko, staring at his eyes, refusing to back down. _Can't you see, your father was the one who did wrong?_

"My nation turned against me, how is that honorable?" _I still can see the taunts of Zhao and Azula that day, and my country, it is lost to me, I can only get it back when the war takes place, and Agni helps me regain my throne. Don't you see Katara, I should never have spoken out?_

"You did what you thought was right, imagine a whole regiment of men slaughtered for the war! You did the right thing, Zuko, and you'll get your honor back when we fight the war next Wednesday, I truly believe you did the right thing back there."

Zuko found himself rendered speechless, as he stared into her cerulean blue eyes. He was just way too tired to fight back- the years of hunting, and Agni's talk with him, had he really done the right thing?

Could his father really have been wrong?

Katara's eyes got closer and closer to him, and he hadn't noticed, but they were getting closer and closer, moving in together, arms wrapping around each other, and the moment his lips touched hers he shut his eyes and simply kissed her, with passion burning with intensity and insecurity.

And for that moment, he forgot the pain inside.

--------------------------------

Aang strapped the last of satchels onto Appa's back, as the whole of Haru's village moved in the direction of Ba Sing Sei. Aang had already spoken to the King of the Earth Kingdom there, and the men of Haru's village had pledged their undying loyalty to Aang in the coming war.

Aang had mastered the last two elements so fast, he himself was surprised. The war was coming, and he didn't even _know _if he was ready, things had gone past so fast, the war was in 5 days, and he still had to meet the people of the Water Tribes and Earth Kingdom. It was so confusing, and as Zuko had once said while having a mock-spar with him, _anything can happen. _

Aang smirked as his mind commented on the irony of the phrase, _anything can happen. _Zuko himself was a perfect example of that, judging from what he saw at dinner tonight between him and Katara. From enemies, they had moved to friends and more. Aang had long gotten over his jealousy whenever any man touched Katara, and he no longer felt the heart-wrenching pang when she smiled at him.

It was funny, that time he talked to Zuko about letting go of a girl, and now he felt that it was no big deal, like he never really was deeply in love with Katara. The more he thought about it, the more it seemed like a childish little crush, one every teenage boys experiences before he matures.

And Aang had matured, thanks to Roku's guiding, as well as pleasurable chats, with Zuko, Iroh, and Haru. Strangely, he rather enjoyed the chats he had with Zuko, when they had fire-bending practice together with Iroh training them. Zuko rarely said much, but he was very cutting into whatever problem there might be and he could be humorous, too, especially when it came to his uncle. Aang had found out more about the prince and what went on behind that exterior, and through everything, the training together, Iroh's small talk, they had become the very best of friends. (Though Zuko sometimes still rolled his eyes at Aang's never-dying enthusiasm for all things.)

Aang smiled as he thought of his old friend Kuzon from the Fire Nation. _I told you we could be friends._

Sokka stood about a metre away from Katara and Zuko, hovering protectively over his sister while the two walked together, helping each other if needed. After all this time, Sokka still did not have complete trust in Zuko, and Aang doubted he would ever. There was this mentality that was always in him, especially since Yue, that he could not trust firebenders. Yet for his sister's sake, he had bit his tongue, and said nothing.

It was amazing to see Katara and Zuko together. Zuko's determination on his goals sometimes led to his very short fuse, but Katara's patience completely balanced it. They had perfect trust in each other, and as Aang mused, it seemed as if they had delved into each other pasts, saw things from a different angle, and had come out completely respecting the other, and Katara would lean on Zuko if she was tired, and Zuko's protective arm over her made Iroh smile, proudly if not laughingly, at his nephew's temper finally being quenched at Katara's personality as well.

"Hey Aang, do you want to set up camp here?" Haru asked as Aang snapped out of his reminiscing. Night had come, and as Aang nodded, the people set up tents on the ground and set up fires, chatting merrily into the night.

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**A/N: YAYA! This is my absolutely LONGEST chapter by far, I hope you guys liked it. I watched Avatar The Chase and it was amazing, Zuko was really sensitive. I mean, that guy is like the SNAG (sensitive new age guy) of the century. Too bad he's not real. Hahas, I'm a crazy Zuko fangirl, I'd admit. Please review and tell me what you think.  Myheartsafeather.**


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